Child safe organisations - Information for organisations and community service providers

Resources and support to become a child safe organisation.
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Child safe organisations create cultures, adopt strategies and take action to respect and prevent harm to children and young people.

The National Principles for Child Safe Organisations were endorsed by members of the Council of Australian ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿s and outline how organisations can become safer for children. Resources about the National Principles are available in different community languages on the .

Becoming a child safe organisation is an ongoing process that begins with gathering information from many different perspectives – children, parents, staff, volunteers and leaders – to critically think about how the attitudes and behaviours of individuals throughout the organisation either create safety or a risk of harm to children and young people.

Understanding your organisation in this way supports the development of a clear plan with achievable actions to reinforce child safe practices and do something about risky situations, attitudes and practices. An effective plan will make sense to everyone in and outside the organisation and drive practical changes in how things are said and done by individual staff and volunteers interacting regularly with children and young people through to leadership, organisational policies and procedures and communications.

Change takes time and consistent effort, and organisations will be at different stages along the journey.

Working with Children Check

The Working with Children Check is a compulsory screening strategy for people engaged in child related work in Western Australia and the Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands. It is an important part of the measures that an organisation should have in place to protect children and young people from abuse and neglect when they are engaged with an organisation.

More information

 for occasional updates and resources on strengthening child safe organisations.

Resources

Many useful resources have been developed by government agencies and sector bodies to assist organisations in their work to become child safe. There are also resources available for children and young people and parents, carers and families.

Practical examples, promotional tools and events

Read examples of how other organisations in WA that engage with children and young people are implementing the National Principles.

Check out our events page for upcoming webinars and information sessions about how to implement the National Principles.

Organisations are also encouraged to share messages about how they are implementing the National Principles.

Getting started

  • – Commissioner for Children and Young People
  • – Commissioner for Children and Young People
  • Child safe organisation workplace poster – Department of Communities – outlines the National Principles and where staff and volunteers can go for more information.
  • – Department of Local ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿, Sport and Cultural Industries – information for arts, cultural, sport, recreation and community organisations.

Self-assessment and review tools

  • - Commissioner for Children and Young People
  • – National Office for Child Safety – available in multiple languages
  • – Department of Local ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿, Sport and Cultural Industries

National Principle 1: Child safe governance and culture

National Principle 2: Rights and participation of children and young people

  • – Australian Childhood Foundation – a paid on-demand course that introduces and explores core concepts of engaging children in feedback and evaluation processes.
  • – Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse – children and young people have identified what institutions should do to help them feel safe and be safe.
  • – Australian ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿ Department of Social Services
  • – Commissioner for Children and Young People – what children and young people should expect from an organisation working with them.
  • – National Office for Child Safety – tools to help children and young people understand their rights and how to use them.
  • – National Office for Child Safety – information about the National Principles is available in a range of languages.
  • Youth Participation Kit for Organisations (2021) – Department of Communities – A series of publications for organisations which provide advice on how to maximise young people’s input and contributions to community life (please note that elements of this toolkit may be outdated and will be updated in due course with relevant information).

National Principle 3: Informing and involving families and communities

  • – WA Child Safety Services – support for parents to teach children skills and strategies to identify and respond to a range of unsafe situations.
  • – Australian Human Rights Commission – how to choose safe and suitable organisations for your child.
  • – Commissioner for Children and Young People – how to decide whether an organisation is safe and suitable for your child.
  • – Australian Human Rights Commission – understanding and talking about the National Principles with children and organisations.
  • – National Office for Child Safety – a toolkit to help adults have preventative conversations about child sexual abuse with children and young people, other adults and organisations.
  • – National Office for Child Safety – information about the National Principles is available in a range of languages.

National Principle 4: Upholding equity and respecting diverse needs

  • – National Office for Child Safety – implementing the National Principles with a lens of cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
  • – National Office for Child Safety – understanding the National Principles through an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lens.
  • – National Office for Child Safety – a report to inform child safe organisations’ development of resources and practices which maximise the safety of children and young people with disability.

National Principle 5: Suitability and support of people working with children and young people

  • – Commissioner for Children and Young People
  • Child safe recruitment and staff management brochure – Department of Communities – guides organisations to adopt child safe practices in recruitment, staff induction and training, and supervision and management.

National Principle 6: Child focussed complaints processes

  • – National Office for Child Safety – information for organisations about how to develop, implement and maintain a complaint-handling system that prioritises child safety and promotes the rights of children and young people to have a voice in decisions that affect them. 
  • – National Office for Child Safety – resources developed specifically for children and young people to promote their awareness of how to make complaints about organisations.

National Principle 7: Education and training of staff and volunteers

  • What to do when you are concerned a child is being abused or neglected poster – Department of Communities
  • – Australian Human Rights Commission – free online training to increase organisational knowledge and understanding of the National Principles and identify the steps needed to implement them.
  • – Australian Childhood Foundation – a paid on-demand course to train personnel on best practice in keeping children and young people safe in all settings.

National Principle 8: Identifying and reducing risk of harm in physical and online environments

National Principle 9: Review and improvement of implementing the National Principles

  • - Commissioner for Children and Young People
  • – National Office for Child Safety – available in multiple languages
  • – Department of Local ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿, Sport and Cultural Industries

National Principle 10: Policies and procedures document how the organisation is child safe

  • – Department of Local ºÚÁÏÕýÄÜÁ¿, Sport and Cultural Industries
  • – Australian Human Rights Commission

Other resources

See also

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