Developing a ChildSafe Culture
ChildSafe Australia has a range of training developed to support those who work with children, youth and vulnerable people.
National Principles for Child Safe Organisations:
Principle #1. Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture.
Principle #2. Children and young people are informed about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.
Principle #3. Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.
Principle #4. Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice.
Principle #5. People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.
Principle #6. Processes to respond to complaints and concerns are child focused.
Principle #7. Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training.
Principle #8. Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed.
Principle #9. Implementation of the national child safe principles is regularly reviewed and improved.
Principle #10. Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people.
”Child safe institutions create cultures, adopt strategies and take action to prevent harm to children, including child sexual abuse. We have adopted the definition of a child-safe institution as one that consciously and systematically creates conditions that reduce the likelihood of harm to children, creates conditions that increase the likelihood of identifying and reporting harm, and responds appropriately to disclosures, allegations, or suspicions of harm.
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse: Making institutions child safe (Vol 6)
Developing a culture of child safety
ChildSafe Australia recognises that developing a child safe culture is a journey that takes time, resources, and investment. Every organisation’s journey of child safety implementation has a unique starting point. Every organisation has a distinct environment and child safety context. Organisations face a challenge to meet legislative requirements, implement national child safety principles, meet state standards, and develop policies and procedures.
ChildSafe can journey with your organisation and empower you to develop a culture of safe people, safe programs and safe places.
ChildSafe have designed the ChildSafe Journey program to engage and empower organisations to move from knowledge of child safety to actively embedding the principles into everyday practice.
The process is customised to recognise your unique child safety environment and organisational goals.
The ChildSafe Journey is designed to help your organisation:
- Evaluate your current child safety practices
- Engage your leadership team
- Educate your team members and volunteers
- Equip diverse and effective child safety teams
- Empower your teams to identify improvements for their environments
- Evaluate the improvements and celebrate the wins
- Embed the changes in a sustainable, ongoing program
- Elevate your organisation’s child safety culture
Enquire about developing a child safe culture
Ask ChildSafe about developing a child safe culture in your organisation.
Auditing and gap analysis
Measure your compliance with Child Safety Standards and build a roadmap for organisational improvement.
