About the Standards

Why do we need Child Safe Standards?

Child Safe Standards provide a framework for organisations to improve their practices and better promote and protect the rights, safety, and wellbeing of children and young people, including by increasing the likelihood that children and young people both feel safe and are safe.

The Standards seek to bring together the conditions that make children and young people feel safe while also establishing a range of safeguards. The focus on rights, safety, and wellbeing reflects our core societal values and expectations.

When organisations take deliberate actions to be child safe, child friendly, and child aware, children and young people are more likely to feel valued, and abuse is better prevented, responded to, and reported.

When children and young people feel valued, know their rights, and are empowered to communicate their views, they learn to trust their own judgment and make good choices, even when adults are not there to protect them. They are also more likely to trust that when they raise concerns, these concerns will be taken seriously and acted on.

Being a child safe organisation will help us create a world where children and young people can both be safe and feel safe.

All staff and volunteers providing services for children and young people will need to understand their role in helping their organisation put the Standards into action. This includes those staff and volunteers who do not need to have a Working with Vulnerable People registration for their job.

The Standards will help organisations to improve their systems and processes in ways that will enable them to identify and reduce risks of harm to children and young people.

What are the Standards?

There are ten Child Safe Standards, and they are all equally important and interrelated.

Organisations must apply the Standards in a manner that is culturally safe and inclusive for all children and young people, including by respecting and valuing the diverse and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people (and their families).

The ten Child Safe Standards are:

Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in organisational leadership, governance, and culture.
Children and young people are informed about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them, and are taken seriously.
Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.
Equity is upheld and diverse needs are respected in policy and practice.
People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.
Processes to respond to complaints and concerns are child focused.
Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training.
Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed.
Implementation of the Child Safe Standards is regularly reviewed and improved.
Policies and procedures document how the organisation is safe for children and young people.

View our Resources page for printable posters of the 10 standards.

The ACT Child Safe Standards Scheme:

has a broader scope that goes beyond child sexual abuse to cover all forms of potential harm to children and young people
adds a focus on children and young people’s rights and wellbeing, recognising that these align with promoting and protecting their safety
centres on changing institutional culture rather than setting prescriptive rules to help drive change in organisations
is principle-based and outcome-focused
can be applied and implemented by organisations in a flexible way, and is scalable for organisations of varying sizes and characteristics
seeks to avoid placing undue burden on organisations
helps organisations address multiple risks
balances caution and caring
establishes a benchmark against which organisations can assess their child safe capability and set performance targets.

What is a Child Safe Organisation?

A child safe organisation is one that consciously and systematically:

creates an environment where children and young people’s rights, safety, and wellbeing are the centre of thought, values and actions;
places emphasis on genuine engagement with, and valuing of, children and young people;
creates conditions that reduce the likelihood of harm occurring to children and young people;
creates conditions that increase the likelihood of any harm being identified or discovered; and
responds appropriately to any concerns, disclosures, allegations, or suspicions of harm.

Being a Child Safe Organisation is more than just completing a checklist, complying with requirements to have pre-set policies, or applying a one size fits all approach. It is a progressive and ongoing process that all staff and volunteers need to learn, monitor, and review.

A Child Safe Organisation considers its risk profile and actively steps out actions to mitigate or manage those risks. Its Board, leadership team, staff, and volunteers actively seek out the views of children and young people within the organisation, and help to build a culture where lived experience is understood, respected, and valued.

A Child Safe Organisation is one where children and young people feel safe and are safe.

Visit our Who do the Standards apply to? page to find out if Child Safe Standards apply to your organisation.

How to Implement the Standards

Our How to Implement the Standards guide offers practical steps and strategies on how to put these standards into practice.

How will the standards be regulated?

Under the ACT Child Safe Standards Scheme, the Children and Young People Commissioner (CYPC) will work with existing regulators to support organisations and sectors to implement the Scheme.

Implementation of the Scheme will endeavour to not duplicate or replace existing regulatory or reporting mechanisms.

Learn more about the role of existing regulators.