6 ways you can prepare your organisation to become child safe

The QFCC has received many questions about how organisations can begin their journey to becoming compliant with the Child Safe Organisations Act 2024.  

A Child Safe Organisation is one that creates a culture, adopts strategies and takes action to promote child wellbeing and prevent harm to children and young people. The intention of the legislation is to guide institutions to adopt child safe practices through implementing the 10 Child Safe Standards and Universal Principle. 

New legislative requirements can seem daunting. Implementing the 10 Child Safe Standards and Universal Principle will take some work, but it means your organisation is proactively protecting children, building a culture of safety and wellbeing where they can safely grow, learn and thrive. 

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to implementing the Child Safe Standards and the Universal Principle, and organisations should engage in a process to: 

• reflect and consider how the Child Safe Standards apply to their situation 
• determine what needs to be reviewed, reinforced, changed, developed or implemented to improve the safety, wellbeing and cultural safety of children
• ensure a culture of continuous improvement to respond to challenges or new situations and continue to hold children’s safety as a core priority.

The QFCC is here to support the sectors as we approach each implementation deadline, so we have compiled of some of the actions your organisation can be taking now to prepare. 

1. Understand your organisation’s obligations and timeframes. 

Find out from our Implementation Timeline Fact Sheet exactly when you need to be able to demonstrate that you are working towards becoming compliant and if you are required to implement both Child Safe Standards and Reportable Conduct Scheme. 

2. Familiarise yourself with the 10 Child Safe Standards and Universal Principle.

Here’s four ways to do that: 

• The 10 Child Safe Standards are based on the National Principles. There is lots of information at the Australian Human Rights Child Safe Organisations website.  They have a series of online training modules available which provide an overview of the principles and more detailed material on each individual principle.
• NAPCAN provides regular training about child safe organisations for staff who are involved in implementation. Join one of their free online webinars. NAPCAN also have a specific briefing for board members, managers and CEOs, you could encourage your leaders to attend. 
• To understand more about the Universal Principle and cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, SNAICC has produced Keeping our Kids Safe . This is a helpful guide for building your understanding of how to protect and uphold cultural safety for First Nations children and their families within each of the Child Safe Standards. The QFCC is currently working on developing specific materials for Queensland organisations, but until they are ready, we encourage you to start here.
• Look through the range of resources on our website. 

3. Identify a person or people who will take the lead. It helps organisations to have knowledgeable and committed people who have responsibility for implementing the standards into your organisation’s policies, processes and practices. Appoint a champion from your leadership team. This is key to ensuring that child safety and wellbeing becomes a core part of your organisation’s culture.

4. Assess your current level of readiness with this self-assessment tool from the National Office of Child Safety. You may be further along the journey than you think. This tool will take you through each principle to assess what you are already doing, and potential actions you’ll need to take. 

5. Take what you’ve learned from your self-assessment and develop an action plan with the steps you need to take and deadlines for completion relevant to your implementation timeframe. 

6. If you are part of a national organisation, talk with your interstate colleagues to find out more about how they implemented the standards in other jurisdictions. They may be able to help you understand your organisation’s unique situation and provide example resources. 

Every organisation will have different approaches relevant to the nature of their work, and all will be at different stages of the process. This is an ongoing journey of continuous improvement, working to build a culture of safety and wellbeing for the children and young people your organisation interacts with.

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