The Child Safe Scheme applies to a range of child-related organisations in NSW.
If your organisation is getting started on its child safe journey, this page has some guidance to get the foundations in place and links to help you.
Getting started with the Child Safe Standards
Keeping your organisation child safe is an ongoing responsibility. Everyone in your organisation needs to understand and actively practice these measures to create a safe environment for children and young people.
The Child Safe Scheme is underpinned by the 10 Child Safe Standards. The Child Safe Standards provide a framework to help organisations meet the requirements of the Child Safe Scheme. When organisations apply the Child Safe Standards, they help build a culture where children and young people are valued and feel safer, and where child abuse is better prevented, detected and responded to.
For small organisations, implementing the Standards may appear daunting. However, they are designed to empower children and young people, and keep them safe from harm, not to add to your administrative burden. The Standards can be applied in practical ways that best fit your environment and community.
We are here to provide practical help, training and resources to make sure organisations have the key foundations in place. You can then build on these to meet the requirements of the Child Safe Scheme.
Resources to help you understand how to put the Child Safe Standards in place
It is important to get a general understanding of the purpose of each Standard and what this looks like in practice. We have many free resources to help you know more about the Standards.
Reducing risks to children and young people in your organisation
Another key step to creating a child safe environment is to look across your organisation to identify risks to children and young people. Then put things in place to help reduce these risks.
Watch our short video that explains risks to children in organisations.
While the examples given are in sports clubs, the principles are the same in all organisations.
Our two handbooks on understanding and identifying risks can provide more guidance.
Making sure your staff and volunteers have necessary checks
Make sure that staff and volunteers that require a Working with Children Check (WWCC) have one and that the Check has been verified on the OCG website.
Templates to develop your key Child Safe documents
As a foundation to creating a child safe organisation, your organisations should have in place some key documents. These include:
- Statement of Commitment to Child Safety
- Child Safe Policy
- Child Safe Code of Conduct
- Child Safe Reporting Policy,
- Child Safe Recruitment, Induction and Training Policy
- Child Safe Risk Management Plan.
We have templates available that you can use to develop your own. It’s important that these documents are shared with everyone in your organisation.
Show your commitment to being child safe
Open allSimple steps your organisation can take to start implementing the Child Safe Standards.
- 1 Issue a public statement of commitment to child safety
This must be championed by leaders in your organisation.
[PUT IN TEMPLATE LINK WHEN AVAILABLE]
- 2 Keep child safety a top priority in your organisation
Do this by adding it as a standard agenda item in your regular staff meetings and your board and committee meetings.
Use these opportunities to make child safety everyone’s responsibility and to track your progress.
- 3 Print and display our posters
Put them in prominent places to show that you value child safety, and encourage reporting when something goes wrong. We have posters in a range of community languages.
- 4 Make sure children in your organisation can speak up
Children and young people should be able to speak up about anything that concerns them and are given opportunities to participate in decisions that affect them.
- 5 Communicate regularly to your community by newsletter or email
Make sure that volunteers, parents, guardians, and others understand the importance of the Child Safe Standards and your organisation’s commitment to keeping children safe as a shared responsibility.
- 6 Sign up to our newsletters
Hear more about our training and resources.
NSW Office of the Children's Guardian general monthly newsletter
