Documenting policies and procedures ensures consistent application of child safe practices across the organisation. It also enables organisations to examine, through review processes, adherence to child safety and wellbeing principles and practices.
Child safe organisations should clearly document their child safety and wellbeing policy, ensuring that all stakeholders, including organisational staff and volunteers, children and young people and their families and carers, are aware of how the organisation is meeting its obligations to create an environment that is safe for children (Australian Human Rights Commission 2018).
A number of policy templates are included below, intended to assist your organisation’s implementation of the National Principles as recommended by the Royal Commission, to bring attention to promoting child safety and wellbeing. All children have the right to be safe and feel secure in a safe and healthy environment, be it physical, emotional or social.
Organisations’ child safe policies and procedures should be publicly available and are promoted regularly.
- Child safe awareness policy template – Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety.
- Child safety and wellbeing policy template – Australian Human Rights Commission.
A suite of child safety templates have been amended, with permission, for use in Western Australia to support implementation of the National Principles:
The Department of Communities acknowledges the NSW’s Office of the Children’s Guardian for the permission to adapt their child safe sample templates, for application within Western Australia. This adaptation has been undertaken with full respect for the original work and in recognition of the significant expertise and effort contributed by the Office of the Children’s Guardian.
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