Child Safe Standards

What are the Child Safe Standards Principles?

Some children are more vulnerable to abuse, based on age, gender, cultural background, disability, prior abuse or neglect. Organisations must take steps to develop their child safe approach by considering the needs of all children, particularly vulnerable students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds; students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex or queer; students in out-of-home care; students with a disability; international students; and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

 

The Child Safe Standards help organisations to:

  • Promote the safety of all children
  • Prevent child abuse
  • Ensure effective processes are in place to respond to and report allegations of child abuse
  • Encourage children to ‘have a say’, especially on issues that are important to them or about decisions that affect their lives
  • Take steps to ensure the safety of children in the online environment

For more information or translations, please visit the website for the Commission for Children and Young People.

The Standards Description
1.      WELS establishes and supports a culturally safe environment in which the diverse and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal children and young people are respected and valued.

 

 Organisations must be safe for First Nations children and young peoples.

And they must treat First Nations children and young peoples with respect.
2.      Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture at WELS. Organisations must do more to focus on:

  • keeping children and young people safe
  • improving the wellbeing of children and young people.

This will help improve the organisation’s workplace culture.
3.      Children and young people are empowered about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously. Organisations must support children and young people to understand their rights.

And they must support children and young people to take part in decisions that affect them.

This includes making sure other people listen to what they have to say.
4.      Families and communities are informed, and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing. Families and communities must have support to:

  • get information they need
  • speak up about a child or young person’s safety and wellbeing.
5.      Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice. When something is inclusive, everyone:

  • can take part
  • feels like they belong.

Plans or rules about children and young people must be inclusive.

And these plans and rules must treat children and young people with respect.
6.      People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice. People who work with children and young people must:

  • be the right person for the job
  • get the support they need.
7.      Processes for complaints and concerns are child focused. When you make a complaint, you tell someone that something:

  • has gone wrong
  • isn’t working well

When someone makes a complaint, organisations must put the child and young person’s needs first.

This includes when people share what they are worried about.
8.      Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training. People who work with children and young people must:

  • have the right information and skills to keep them safe
  • take part in lots of learning and training.
9.      Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed. Children and young people must have safe environments.

These environments can be:

  • physical, like a park or building
  • online, like a website or online chat.
10.  Implementation of the Child Safe Standards is regularly reviewed and improved. Organisations must review how well they follow the Standards.

And look for new ways to keep children and young people safe.

For example, someone might make a complaint to an organisation.

If this happens, the organisation might change their plans or rules to make them better.

We must make sure the new Standards work well.
11.  Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people. Organisations must write a document that explains how they keep children and young people safe.

Translate »