Common questions about the National Principles and Child Safe Organisations

The Australian Human Rights Commission defines a Child Safe Organisation in the National Principles For Child Safe Organisations (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2018, p.3) as one which,

Consciously and systematically:

• Creates an environment where children’s safety and wellbeing is the centre of thought, values and actions

• Places emphasis on genuine engagement with and valuing children

• Creates conditions that reduce the likelihood of harm to children and young people

• Creates conditions that increase the likelihood of identifying harm

• Responds to any concerns, disclosure, allegations or suspicions of harm.

This is the definition which was used by The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse which also devoted an entire volume (volume six) of their Final Report to creating child-safe environments and institutions (Commonwealth of Australia, 2019).

All organisations should strive to be Child Safe Organisations, regardless of how frequently children and young people come in to contact with them, whether they are for-profit or not, or whether they are in the public or private sector.

Child Safe Organisations recognise and acknowledge that the risk of child abuse and neglect within institutions is ever present, and have created a culture within the organisation that values the wellbeing and welfare of children and young people, places child safety above profits and reputation and implement working conditions and expectations to make it more easy to recognise situations where the wellbeing and welfare of children and young people could or might be compromised. In cases where things do go wrong, Child Safe Organisations prioritise the child, their family and all children and young people in their response and act decisively to respond to incidents in the best interests of children and young people. They make changes to their organisation to reduce the likelihood of a similar incident occurring in the future.

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As part of the work of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, 10 Child Safe Standards were developed to provide guidance for organisations to prevent institutional child sexual abuse. The National Principles for Child Safe Organisations reflect the Royal Commission’s Child Safe Standards but go beyond sexual abuse and cover all types of abuse and neglect of children as well as including bullying and cyber-bullying. The National Principles are underpinned by children’s rights. The National Principles were developed by the Australian Human Rights Commission as part of a project led by the National Children’s Commissioner and were endorsed by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in February 2019 (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2018). The National Principles are inter-related and inter-dependant meaning that no single principle is more important than any other and every principle must be embedded to create child safe organisations.

The 10 National Principles for Child Safe Organisations are:

1. Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance and culture

2. Children and young people are informed abut their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously

3. Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing

4. Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice

5. People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice

6. Processes for complaints and concerns are child focused

7. Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training

8. Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed

9. Implementation of the national child safe principles is regularly reviewed and improved

10. Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people.

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At the time of publishing, not all states/territories have mandated compliance with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. However, several states/territories do have standards or requirements that certain organisations are legally obligated to comply with and several states/territories are actively considering regulatory schemes for the National Principles. For example, New South Wales has mandated compliance with the Child Safe Standards which were developed by the Royal Commission, and Victoria has developed their own 11 Victorian Child Safe Standards which must be complied with. It is expected that other states/territories will legislate compliance with them in the near future and this page will be updated to remain current. Despite this, children have a right to be protected from abuse and neglect and as quoted above, have the right that when organisations make decisions affecting children, the best interests of children should be the primary concern.

Organisations that voluntarily implement the National Principles will become ‘organisations of choice’ for parents and families. These organisations will be leaders in their field and will be well positioned in the event that compliance with the National Principles becomes mandatory in their state/territory. The Australian Human Rights Commission and the National Children’s Commissioner are actively working to raise the awareness of child safe organisations and the National Principles in parents/carers and adults. As this work continues, parents/carers and families will be armed with information to ask questions of organisations to assess if their children will be kept safe and have their rights upheld and they will gravitate to organisations which have a strong child safeguarding culture.

Organisations that receive Federal funding may find that although not legislated, evidence that the organisation is embedding the National Principles is a requirement to be eligible to apply for or to continue to receive Federal funding. For those organisations, this means that although there is no legislative requirement to comply with the National Principles, their eligibility for certain Federal funding may be affected if they fail to embed the National Principles.

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All organisations should strive to be Child Safe Organisations, regardless of how frequently children and young people come in to contact with them, whether they are for-profit or not, or whether they are in the public or private sector.

Children have a right to be safe in all environments. Whether it be at school or early education, while participating in sports, tutoring, community or personal development, or going to their doctor, dentist or physiotherapist, or going to work or volunteer or spend time in public institutions, programs or spaces. In all those environments, it is the responsibility of adults to keep children safe and protected from the risk of harm through abuse and neglect. Therefore, all organisations should be child safe.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse focused primarily on specific organisations and sectors which may have led to a false belief that child abuse in institutions, specifically sexual abuse, only occurs in institutions like schools, sporting clubs and faith-based organisations. It also may have created the false belief that child abuse in institutions was a historical issue which no longer exists. Both of these assumptions are incorrect and were directly addressed in the Royal Commission’s Final Report (Commonwealth of Australia, 2019b). Child abuse and neglect in institutions remains a contemporary risk in Australia and assuming it no longer occurs increases the risk posed to children and young people. Additionally, the risk exists wherever children and young people exist and spend time. The Royal Commission identified certain risk factors where abuse is more likely, but it can occur in any organisation that children spend time. This includes sectors such as the retail sector which employs large numbers of high school age children, health care, early education/OSHC, and many others.

It is disingenuous to the goal of keeping children safe by preventing abuse and neglect to cordon off certain sectors and organisations as ‘not being required to be child-safe.’ Children have a right to be safe - everywhere. This is why all organisations should develop policies, plans and practices that prioritise the safety and wellbeing of children, regardless of if meeting the needs of children is their core business or if interaction with children is a rare occurrence for their organisation.

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No.

The National Office For Child Safety leads the development and implementation of national priorities recommended by the Royal Commission, including the National Principles, the Commonwealth Child Safe Framework, the National Strategy to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and the National Redress Scheme. Currently, the National Office For Child Safety has not authorised or endorsed any child safeguarding provider or consultancy to certify or accredit organisations as being ‘Child Safe Organisations.’ If you are speaking with a provider that offers a product like this, consider asking, “Accredited against what?” and “what does Certification provide that cannot be achieved in other ways?”

For this reason, PCA does not provide an accreditation or certification product. Instead, PCA offers an advertising tool called, ‘Safeguarding support by PCA.’ This tool is only offered to clients that have worked with PCA on a project which met specific requirements to make the organisation eligible. PCA is clear that this is an advertising/marketing tool to communicate to parents and your community that your organisation has consulted external, professional support to develop your Child Safeguarding Framework. It is not an endorsement of quality or suitability and does not claim or represent itself to be. The product is designed this way because an appropriate policy framework on its own does not make organisations child-safe. It is how that framework is translated in to practice which is important. PCA can help your organisation develop and introduce the tools and practices to be child-safe, but your leadership in embedding the National Principles as part of the culture of the organisation and your continued focus on the best interests of the child are what makes your organisation child-safe.

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A ‘Child-serving’ organisation is any organisation which exists to primarily provide services or products to children and young people under the age of 18. Examples include learning institutions (e.g. early education centres, primary and secondary schools, and tutors), youth sports providers (e.g. club and representative sport and training, learn to swim schools, and private coaching), and child entertainers and activity leaders (e.g. children’s party performers, sport-based activity programs/parties, and structured child-focused community initiatives or activities). If in your ordinary work, your staff primarily or exclusively cater their activities to children and young people, you can safely assume that you are a child-serving organisation.

A ‘Child-contact’ organisation is any organisation which as part of their client or customer base, provides services or products to, or engage with, children and young people. People under the age of 18 are not the primary market, but the work that the organisation does brings their staff and volunteers in to contact with children and young people. Examples include health and wellbeing services ( e.g. doctors, dentists, physiotherapists and optometrists), tradespeople that work at locations where young people are (e.g. plumbers, electricians, general maintenance that attend schools, early education centres or sports facilities), and businesses that employ young people (e.g. retail, grocery and service industries which have employees under the age of 18). If in your ordinary work, your staff have contact with people under the age of 18, you can safely assume that you are a child-contact organisation.

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References

Australian Human Rights Commission. (2018). National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. Sydney: Australian Human Rights Commission.

Commonwealth of Australia. (2017). Final Report: Volume Six: Making Institutions Child Safe. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.

United Nations. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved 24 February, 2020 from: <https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx>