ACT Child Safe Standards Scheme

ACT Child Safe Standards Scheme

The ACT Human Rights Commission is committed to making organisations safer for children and young people.

From 1 August 2024, amendments to the Human Rights Commission Act 2005 make it mandatory for all organisations that provide services for children and young people to commence implementing the ACT Child Safe Standards Scheme (the Scheme).

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended the implementation of Child Safe Standards in its 2017 Final Report. The ACT Government accepted this recommendation in principle and subsequently endorsed the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations in February 2019.

The National Principles for Child Safe Organisations have since been adopted as the ACT’s ten Child Safe Standards (the Standards) and, importantly, centre on promoting and protecting the rights, safety, and wellbeing of children and young people. For the purposes of the Child Safe Standards, the reference to ‘child’ refers to all children and young people aged under 18 years.

The Children and Young People Commissioner (CYPC) will support implementation of the Scheme across the ACT by working with organisations and sectors to enhance their capability. This will include providing information, resources, support, and training that builds on existing child safety measures and supports organisations to improve practices to better promote and protect the rights, safety, and wellbeing of children and young people. The CYPC will do so by applying a continuous improvement approach across all relevant sectors, while leveraging existing regulatory powers and compliance measures to support long-term cultural change.

Oversight of the Scheme’s implementation will be risk-based with a focus on education and capacity building rather than compliance and enforcement.

Key Messages

  • Beginning 1 August 2024, all providers of services to and for children and young people must commence implementation of the ACT Child Safe Standards Scheme (the Scheme).
  • The ACT Children and Young People Commissioner (CYPC) will support implementation of the Scheme by working with organisations and sectors to build their capability in promoting and protecting the rights, safety, and wellbeing of children and young people.
  • The Scheme will help to address known gaps in the current child safety framework by supporting organisations working with children and young people to develop more holistic and child-friendly approaches to rights, safety, and wellbeing.
  • There are ten Child Safe Standards (the Standards) that together improve the protection of children and young people from harm and abuse.
  • 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).
  • Addressing attitudes and behaviours that create barriers for children, young people, and families with diverse needs is at the core of being a child safe organisation.
  • The CYPC has developed an initial suite of resources and guidance for organisations to assist them to assess current practices and identify areas that might benefit from improvement.
  • It is important for organisations to think about both the cultural changes that might be needed, as well as procedural actions that need to be taken.
  • Transformational change needs everyone to be on board and each organisation will need to have a clear vision about what being a child safe organisation looks like for them.
  • The order in which organisations tackle the various actions required for implementation within their organisational context will be up to them.
  • A key indicator of success will be that children, young people, and their families can see how services are implementing the Standards to make organisations safer for them.