A Guide For Creating A Child Safe Organisation - CCYP

The Royal Commission intoInstitutional Responses toChild Sexual AbuseFrom 2013 to 2017, the Royal Commission investigatedhow organisations have responded to allegations andinstances of child sexual abuse. The RoyalCommission gathered evidence of widespread sexualabuse of children in certain institutions. While theprimary focus of the Royal Commission was on childsexual abuse, three volumes of the final report outlineprocesses for creating child safe organisations, andcan be broadly applied to keeping children safe fromall forms of abuse.Volume 6 of the Royal Commission’s reportoutlines the role that Child Safe Standards canplay in making organisations safer for children.It also discusses how regulatory oversight could beimproved to better facilitate the implementation ofChild Safe Standards in organisations. In many ways,the 10 standards described in the Royal Commission’sreport align with the work already undertaken inVictoria. Much like Victoria’s standards, they areintended to be implemented in a flexible way byorganisations and are not designed to be prescriptive.They focus on organisations creating cultures,adopting strategies and taking action to prevent harmto children.United Nations Conventionon the Rights of the ChildThe rights outlined in the United Nations Conventionon the Rights of the Child (CROC) are a key influenceon the development of universal child safe procedures.CROC specifically recognises that children have aright to be protected from physical and mental harmand neglect and enjoy the full range of human rights– civil, cultural, economic, political and social. Article12 of CROC highlights the importance of respectingthe views of the child. Children have the right to voicetheir views and have their opinions taken into accountwhen adults make decisions that affect them. Anextract of the convention can be found in Appendix 2.The Charter of Human RightsVictoria’s Charter of Human Rights andResponsibilities Act 2006 (the Charter) outlines thebasic human rights of all people in Victoria. TheCharter provides that every child has the right tosuch protection as is in his or her best interest.The Charter requires that governments, local councilsand other public authorities act consistently withthe Charter and consider relevant rights when theymake decisions.“ One of the greatest risk factorsfor the harm or abuse of childrenis the lack of awareness aboutit among an organisation’s staffand volunteers.”Royal Commission into InstitutionalResponses to Child Sexual AbuseCommission for Children and Young PeopleA Guide for Creating a Child Safe Organisation7

Victoria’s compulsoryChild Safe StandardsWhat are the standards?Who do the standards apply to?The standards are a compulsory framework thatsupports organisations to promote the safety ofchildren by requiring them to implement policiesto prevent, respond to and report allegations ofchild abuse.Organisations in Victoria are usually required tocomply with the standards if they do one of thefollowing:The legislation that creates the standards is theChild Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005. The standardsare designed to drive cultural change and embed afocus on child safety by placing children’s rights andwellbeing at the forefront of the organisation’s mind.Organisations must be guided by the followingprinciples when implementing the standards: the cultural safety of Aboriginal children the safety of children with disability.the cultural safety of children from culturallyand/or linguistically diverse backgroundsThe standards require organisations to have:1. strategies to embed an organisational cultureof child safety, through effective leadershiparrangements2. a Child Safe Policy or Statement of Commitmentto Child Safety3. a Code of Conduct that establishes clearexpectations for appropriate behaviour with children4. screening, supervision, training and other humanresource practices that reduce the risk of childabuse by new and existing personnel5. processes for responding to and reportingsuspected child abuse6. strategies to identify and reduce or remove risksof child abuse provide any services specifically for children engage a child as a contractor, employee orvolunteer to assist the organisation in providingservices, facilities or goods.provide any facilities specifically for use by childrenwho are under the organisation’s supervision, orOrganisations can check the Child Wellbeing andSafety Act 2005 to confirm if they need to comply.The standards apply to a very broad and diverserange of organisations, and are intended to be appliedin a flexible, tangible way to best address the issuesand needs in each individual organisation that workswith children. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach toimplementing the standards. Each organisation shouldconsider how to best apply the standards, taking intoaccount the size and nature of the organisation, theservices and activities provided, and the nature of theorganisation’s interactions with children.All organisations, even those not legally requiredto implement the standards, are strongly encouragedto review how they interact with children. Anyorganisation can use this guide to improve responsesto child safety concerns and reduce the risk ofchild abuse.This guide discusses these requirements in detail andprovides advice and tools to help organisationsunderstand and implement them.7. strategies to promote the participation andempowerment of children.8A Guide for Creating a Child Safe OrganisationCommission for Children and Young People

The Commission for Childrenand Young PeopleHow to make anorganisation child safeThe Commission for Children and Young Peopleis an independent statutory body that promotesimprovement in policies and practices affectingchildren and young people in Victoria. TheCommission is responsible for helping organisationsto understand the standards and what they needto do to ensure they are implemented.All children have the right to feel safe and to be safeall the time, but safety does not just happen.The Commission is also responsible for ensuringthat all organisations covered by the standards arecompliant with them, and has a range of audit andenforcement powers.The Commission works together with a numberof other government and statutory organisations,including the Department of Health and HumanServices and the Victorian Registration andQualifications Authority, which also have a role insupporting organisations to implement the standardsand ensure that they comply.A child safe organisation takes deliberate steps toprotect children from physical, sexual, emotional andpsychological abuse, and neglect. This commitmentto protecting children must be embedded in anorganisation’s culture and policies. Responsibilityfor taking action must be understood and acceptedby everyone.A child safe organisation fosters and demonstratesopenness in a variety of ways. This directly andindirectly creates a culture in which everyone – staff,volunteers, parents, carers and children – feelsconfident, enabled and supported to safely disclosechild safety concerns.All children, their families and carers should feelwelcome in an organisation.Commission for Children and Young PeopleA Guide for Creating a Child Safe Organisation9

Victoria’s compulsory Child Safe Standards“ While an important tool, Working with Children Checks – in the absence ofbroader child safe strategies – do not make organisations safer for children.In fact, an over-reliance on Working with Children Checks can be detrimentalto children’s safety. They can provide a false sense of comfort to parents andcommunities, and may cause organisations to become complacent due to thebelief that people who have undergone Working with Children Checks do notpose any risk to children – this is not the case.”Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual AbuseIt takes many components tobuild a child safe organisationPhysical abuseOrganisations involved with children vary enormouslyin size, structure, resources and the types ofinteractions between staff, volunteers and children.One of the key objectives of this guide is to helporganisations to embed child safety practices withintheir culture.The work involved in building a child safeorganisation is never completed. It is a dynamic,multi-layered and ongoing process of learning,monitoring and reviewing. Following the steps in thisguide, embedding them into organisational culture andreviewing regularly, will reduce opportunities for harmto occur.It is important to realise that over-reliance on any onecomponent of child safety, such as Working withChildren Checks, prevents an organisation frombuilding robust and sustainable barriers needed tostop inappropriate people from working with children.Gaps in organisational child safety practices couldresult in weaknesses that may be exploited.Adopt a harm-based perspectiveThe abuse of children takes many forms, someof which are outlined below. Adopting a harm-basedperspective helps organisations to be proactivein identifying and preventing all forms of harmand abuse.10A Guide for Creating a Child Safe OrganisationPhysical abuse can occur when a person intentionallyor recklessly uses physical force against, with or in thepresence of a child without their consent, whichcauses, or could cause, the child harm.Physical abuse can also occur when someoneintentionally or recklessly causes a child to believe thatphysical force is about to be used against themwithout their consent.Physical abuse can include hitting, punching, kicking,pushing or throwing something that strikes a child.It also includes behaviour, such as words or gestures,that causes a child to believe that they are about tosuffer physical abuse.Sexual abuseSexual abuse encompasses a broad range ofbehaviours involving a sexual element that arecommitted against, with or in the presence of a child.Behaviour that could amount to sexual abuse spans abroad range of behaviours from sexual misconduct toa sexual offence.A sexual offence will generally encompass any sexualencounter that involves a child. This abuse may involvecontact, like touching or penetration. It also includesbehaviours that do not involve contact like ‘flashing’,possessing child abuse material or grooming. A full listof the relevant sexual offences is set out in clause 1 ofSchedule 1 to the Sentencing Act 1991.Commission for Children and Young People

Sexual misconduct is another type of abuse andincludes a variety of sexualised behaviours with ortowards children. This could include inappropriateconversations of a sexual nature, comments thatexpress a desire to act in a sexual manner, or insome cases, behaviour that crosses a professionalboundary such as having or seeking to establishan inappropriate or overly familiar relationship witha child.Emotional and psychological abuseNeglectNeglect is another form of child abuse. Neglect is afailure on the part of a caregiver to provide sufficientattention, responsiveness and protection that isappropriate to the basic needs of a child to ensurethat these needs are met. Neglect includes failure toprovide adequate health care, supervision, clothing,nutrition or housing, as well as failing to meet achild’s physical, emotional, social, educational andsafety needs.The infliction of emotional or psychological harmis one of the most common forms of child abuse.This may involve conveying to a child that they areworthless, unloved, inadequate or rejected, or causinga child to frequently feel frightened or in danger.Emotional or psychological abuse often diminishes achild’s sense of identity, dignity and self-worth, andthe impact can be chronic and debilitating.Commission for Children and Young PeopleAll abuse harms children. Eveninjuries that are not visible can beprofound. They can strike at a child’ssense of identity, make them fearfulor ashamed, and reduce their abilityto participate in their community.A Guide for Creating a Child Safe Organisation11

How the standards andprinciples work togetherThe seven standards work together to enable an organisation to place child safety at the core of what they do.As organisations implement each standard, they must consider implications for each of the other standards.Organisations must incorporate the three overarching principles into everyday practice.The standards and the principles are designed to work together to help create a child safe organisation.Independently, each standard addresses a specific element of child safety within an organisation.Creating a child safe organisation requires an organisation to make sure all of the standards and principlesare applied and operate together.Organisationalculture andleadershipEmpoweringchildrenEach standardmust promote:Commitmentto child safetyThe cultural safety ofAboriginal childrenIdentifyingand reducing orremoving risksThe cultural safety of children fromculturally and/or linguisticallydiverse backgroundsThe safety of childrenwith disabilityRespondingand reporting12A Guide for Creating a Child Safe OrganisationCode ofConductScreeningand supervisionCommission for Children and Young People

Child safety throughrespect for diversity andcultural differenceA child safe organisation respects cultural differencesand variations in child rearing practices due to afamily’s personal, cultural or religious beliefs.However, a child safe organisation recognises thatthese differences do not reduce a child’s right to besafe, or the organisation’s responsibility to protect thechild from harm. The Royal Commission advises that:Some children are more vulnerable to abuse,based on various factors including age, gender,ethnicity, disability, and prior abuse or neglect.1Victoria is a culturally diversecommunity made up of manydifferent nationalities, and peopleof diverse cultural backgrounds,language and religious groups.Respecting diversity means: valuing and respecting people’s beliefsbuilding responsive relationshipscommunicating openly and honestly to find outhow best to be inclusive and respectful towardscultural needs examining our personal ideals, customs and beliefsand acknowledging that the beliefs of one personmay not be the same as those of another appreciating that others can hold different beliefsof equal significance.1Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to ChildSexual Abuse, Interim Report, Volume 1 (2015), chapter 3.A culturally safe environment is:an environment that is safe for people: wherethere is no assault, challenge or denial of theiridentity, of who they are and what they need. It isabout shared respect, shared meaning, sharedknowledge and experience, of learning, living andworking together with dignity and truly listening.22Commission for Children and Young PeopleRobyn Williams, ‘Cultural safety – what does it mean forour work practice?’, Australian and New Zealand Journal ofPublic Health, 213 (2) (1999), pp. 2012–13.A Guide for Creating a Child Safe Organisation13

Child safety through respect for diversity and cultural differenceCultural safety ofAboriginal childrenEvery Aboriginal adult and every Aboriginal childneeds to feel that their sense of self and theiridentity is ‘valued in some way by the people andenvironments that surround them’.3 Cultural identityand safety are fundamental to a child’s overallwellbeing. They affect how the child sees themselvesin relation to others and how the environment impactsupon their sense of safety.For Aboriginal people:culture is about family networks, Elders andancestors. It’s about relationships, languages,dance, ceremony and heritage. Culture isabout spiritual connection to our lands andwaters. It is the way we pass on stories andknowledge to our babies and children; it is howwe greet each other and look for connection.It is about all the parts that bind us together.4The Royal Commission highlighted that Aboriginalchildren are at a higher risk of harm and abuse inorganisations. ongoing impacts of racially discriminatory policiesfrom the past ongoing systemic racism creating barriers todisclosure, to being believed, and to receivingan appropriate response over-representation of Aboriginal children inorganisations with high situational risk factorssuch as out-of-home care, youth detention,and boarding schools.14A Guide for Creating a Child Safe OrganisationTalk with Aboriginal peopleCreating a culturally safe environment is aboutrelationships and actively creating opportunity for anAboriginal voice and presence in an organisation’splanning, policies and activities. Talk with localAboriginal people and local organisations withReconciliation Action Plans or Aboriginal-inclusivepolicies for guidance on how an organisation canbecome culturally safe. Cultural safety is about how anorganisation is experienced by Aboriginal people andin particular by Aboriginal children. Being connectedto culture is a strength and protective factor forAboriginal children. The risk of abuse is heightened forAboriginal children when they do not feel culturallysafe. It may reduce their willingness to report abuse.No matter where an organisation is in Victoria,Aboriginal people will be living in the community,with a Traditional Owner Group known within theregion. There are a number of websites that containinformation about local and regional Aboriginalpopulations and Traditional Owners.Recognise the impact of the pastVictorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, This is ForeverBusiness: A framework for maintaining and restoringcultural safety in Aboriginal Victoria (2010).Andrew Jackomos, ‘International Human Rights DayOration: Linking our past to our future: How cultural rightscan help shape identity and build resilience in Koori kids’,Indigenous Law Bulletin, 8 (17) (2015), p. 20.4Creating a culturally safe environmentFind out who the Traditional Owner groups orRegistered Aboriginal Party are in the areaThe research found that reasons for this included:3Creating a culturally safe organisation for Aboriginalchildren requires a willingness to learn, understandand respond to the diversity of Aboriginal cultures.In a culturally safe environment, Aboriginal childrenshould define what is comfortable

Commission for Children and Young People A uide for Creating a Child Safe Organisation 5 Useful definitions Child The words 'child' and 'children' in this guide refer to children and young people up to the age of 18 years. This definition is consistent with the national framework, Creating Safe Environments for Children