Child safety goes beyond the Check
Recent events where a Victorian childcare worker with no record of offending was charged with inflicting serious harm on children show the importance of organisations going beyond the Working with Children Check to keep children safe, according to Acting Children’s Guardian Rachael Ward.
The NSW Working with Children Check (WWCC) has banned thousands of people with relevant criminal or workplace records from being engaged in child-related work, paid or unpaid, Ms Ward said.
‘The WWCC is a check of records and it’s an important scheme to prevent inappropriate people from working with children,’ Ms Ward said.
‘But we know that most offenders have a history of offending before they are reported or charged. We also know that it can often be many years before a person who has experienced abuse comes forward to report the abuse.
‘That is where the Child Safe Standards come in,’ Ms Ward said.
The Royal Commission in Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse identified 10 Child Safe Standards that the commission found was present in organisations that were safe for children.
These Standards have been legislated in NSW.
‘Complying with the WWCC is only one element of the Standards,’ Ms Ward said.
Under the NSW Child Safe Scheme, organisation must implement a range of strategies guided by the Child Safe Standards to strengthen their practices and deliver safe services and environments for children.
To be child safe, organisations need to build a child-safe culture through appropriate policies and practices.
The Office of the Children’s Guardian provides free, practical resources and offers training to help organisations keep children safe. This includes resources and training to support child safe recruitment and build a child safe culture in hiring and managing workers who prioritise child safety.
