Overview

Child safety is a paramount concern across Australia, and developing comprehensive Child Safe Standards has been a crucial step towards protecting children and young people.

Over the decades, different legislation in Australia has addressed the protection of children. In 2009, the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children was endorsed, with federal, state and territory governments working together to further develop the framework over time.

In 2017, the Royal Commission’s recommendations paved the way for creating National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. These principles serve as a foundation for creating a unified approach to child safety, ensuring that organisations prioritise the protection and well-being of children and young people in both physical and online environments.

The National Principles are flexible and relevant for organisations of all sizes and sectors that engage with children and young people. Each State and Territory have their own governing body and regulations in line with the National Child Safe standards

The National Child Safe Principles

Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture.

This principle provides guidance on the role of organisational leadership and governance in promoting inclusive and welcoming environments for children and young people, a culture of accountability and the ways in which a child safe culture is developed and maintained.

Children and young people are informed about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.

This principle describes an organisational culture that supports children and young people to understand what child safety and wellbeing means. They are informed about their rights and responsibilities in an age appropriate way. They contribute and actively participate in building an organisational culture that is safe for them. 

Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.

This principle outlines the range of ways an organisation can involve families and the community in its approach to child safety and wellbeing, relevant policies and practices and the provision of accessible information. This will help inform parents and carers about safeguarding children and young people and encourage their feedback and input. They will be empowered to speak up and drive conversations regarding child safety and wellbeing and how and when they can raise issues and concerns. 

Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice.

This principle examines how recognition of children and young people’s diverse circumstances enables an organisation to work in a more child centred way and empowers children and young people to participate more effectively. This builds an organisational culture that acknowledges the strengths and individual characteristics of children, and embraces all children regardless of their abilities, sex, gender, or social, economic or cultural background. 

People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.

This principle describes recruitment and staff development policies, including appropriate screening, that are a foundation of child safe organisations. This principle also includes induction training, understanding child safety responsibilities and cultural safety concepts, and appropriate supervision of staff and volunteers. Reporting obligations, training in record keeping and information sharing provide staff and volunteers with relevant practice tools to better safeguard children and young people.

Processes to respond to complaints and concerns are child focused.

This principle provides guidance on how human resource management policies and practices and effective complaints management processes should be accessible, responsive to and understood by children and young people, families, staff and volunteers. Complaint management processes will be linked to the Code of Conduct and provide details about where breaches of the Code have occurred. Training will help staff and volunteers to recognise and respond to neglect, grooming and other forms of harm, provide appropriate support to children and young people in these instances and meet legal 

requirements. This includes training to assist in responding to different types of complaints, privacy considerations, listening skills, disclosures of harm and reporting obligations.

Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training.

This principle emphasises the importance of information, ongoing education and training for staff and volunteers. Staff and volunteers build on their knowledge and skills and evidence-based practice tools through professional seminars and memberships, supervised peer discussions, team training days and access to research and publications. This ensures staff and volunteers develop awareness and insights into their attitudes towards children and young people, and have a contemporary understanding of child development, safety and wellbeing. They are able to identify indicators of child harm, respond effectively to children and young people and their families and support their colleagues. Staff and volunteers are able to respond in culturally appropriate ways to children and young people who disclose or show signs that they are experiencing harm inside or outside the organisation.

Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed.

This principle highlights that reducing the risk of harm in physical and online environments is an important preventative mechanism. Risk management strategies clarify potential risks where adult to child or child to child interactions occur, or where the physical environment is unsafe. 

Implementation of the national child safe principles is regularly reviewed and improved.

This principle emphasises that child safe organisations seek to continuously improve their delivery of child safe services and their operations. They also conduct reviews to ensure that organisational policies and procedures, including record keeping practices, are being implemented by staff and volunteers. The participation and involvement of staff, volunteers, children and young people, families and community mentors in these reviews will strengthen the organisation’s child safeguarding capacities. This includes the importance of reporting on the finding of reviews, and sharing good practice and learnings on a regular basis. Regular reviews ensure that organisations address new challenges or concerns that arise.

Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people.

This principle outlines the importance of organisations having a clearly documented child safety and wellbeing policy. This will ensure that all stakeholders, including organisational staff and volunteers, children and young people and their families and carers, are aware of how the organisation is planning to meet its obligations to create an environment that is safe for children. Partner agencies or organisations funded to provide services to children and young people should demonstrate adherence to child safety and wellbeing policies and practices.

Webinar

Hear from the NSW Office of the Children's Guardian as they discuss your requirements with the Childsafe Standards and provide a refresher on Working With Children Checks. 

Please note the information provided is NSW based

Visit Working With Children Checks for more information.

eLearning

Target Audience: 

All volunteer leaders and volunteers that work with or provide services to children and young people in the ACT. 

Whilst developed for the ACT, users from other States and Territories my benefit from the content of this course.

Program Overview:  

This is an awareness level course on the ACT Child Safe Standards Scheme.  

From 1 August 2024, amendments to the Human Rights Commission Act 2005 make it mandatory for providers of services for children and young people to commence implementing the ACT Child Safe Standards Scheme. 

We realise that incorporating the Child Safe Standards into your practice is likely to be an iterative process. So, the first step is to find out more about the Standards, how they may affect the delivery of the services you provide, and what they mean for your role. This course is intended to assist you in this process. 

Child safety is everyone’s responsibility... so, thanks for undertaking this training. 

Participant Benefits: 

Participants will gain an understanding of the ACT Child Safe Standards including; 

Why the Child Safe Standards are important 

How you can apply the Standards in your workplace, club or organisation 

Where to find more information  

Course Outline: 

The history and context of the Standards 

The 10 ACT Child Safe Standards 

How the Standards may affect your organisation or business 

Where to find resources to assist with the implementation of the Standards 

Completion time: 

Approx 45 minutes (0.75 hrs).

Pre-requisites: 

None - this is an introduction level course 

Additional information: 

Email us on ACTChildSafe@act.gov.au  

Resources: 

The ACT Human Rights Commission Website - https://www.hrc.act.gov.au/childrenyoungpeople/act-child-safe-standards.  

Access the ACT Child Safe Standards eLearning here

Governing Bodies

Each State and Territory have their own governing body: