Child safety: Creating the right organisational culture
We recommend that organisations approach their culture on the following four fronts. 1. From the…
If you read nothing else about child-safe organisations, read this.
Creating a child-safe culture requires more than simply having a set of policies and procedures in place. It’s about creating a culture where all staff, volunteers and board members take responsibility for promoting and ensuring child safety. It’s also about promoting participation and empowerment of children – giving children a voice in decision-making, and not just child safety-related decisions but organisational planning as well. When children are empowered in an organisation they are more likely to report concerns in relation to their safety.
Creating this child-safe culture is not just relevant to organisations providing services for children. It must be embedded in the Australian community – because we all have a duty of care to keep children safe. The sad reality is that children can be abused in any circumstances, so it’s critical that organisations, individuals and communities take a stance to make child safety our number-one priority.
This involves more than just complying with regulations – we must implement best practice. ICDA’s series of help sheets on the subject, including this one, provides guidance, practical tools and advice for organisations working with children, taking into account mandatory requirements and how organisations can ensure best practice.
Recent federal and state government initiatives have highlighted the responsibility that not-for-profit organisations have for preventing and appropriately responding to child abuse.
Understanding the context and findings of these inquiries (including the ones outside your organisation’s home state) will help you to understand your risks and legal responsibilities, and to prepare appropriate policies and procedures for your organisation.
In 2013 the Federal Government established the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to look into how institutions have responded to allegations and instances of child sexual abuse.
The Royal Commission’s final report was released in 2017. Some of the key themes from the report are outlined below:
To ensure compliance with the law and protection of children within the care of your organisation you must immediately take the following actions:
ICDA provides practical tools to help you achieve all the strategies outlined above.
However, it’s important to note that the most important thing you can do is to embed an organisation-wide commitment to the protection of children. This must be led from the top and you must encourage and foster a culture of proactively dealing with and reporting concerns relating to child safety.
We recommend that organisations approach their culture on the following four fronts. 1. From the…
A crucial part of establishing and maintaining a safe environment for children is ensuring that the…
Every Australian state and territory has enacted legislation prescribing both mandatory and…
If you read nothing else about child-safe organisations, read this.
As a result of its 2013 inquiry into the handling of child abuse, the Victorian Government mandated…
Everyone has a role to play in preventing and responding to child abuse. As a director of a…