Introduction to the Child Safe Standards
The 10 Child Safe Standards are one of two components of Queensland’s Child Safe Organisation system and must be implemented by businesses or organisations working with or providing spaces and facilities for anyone aged 17 years and under.
Around 40,000 organisations will need to show they are child safe through meeting these Standards. This includes small volunteer and community groups and sole traders, through to large and well-established organisations, such as hospitals, schools and churches.
Compliance has already commenced for some sectors, with the law taking effect in stages. Visit the Who needs to comply and when webpage for more information
Standard 1 - Leadership & Culture
Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in the entity’s organisational leadership, governance and culture.
Every organisation should be a model of children’s safety and wellbeing. Leaders set the tone and example by embedding children’s safety and wellbeing into policies, procedures and culture and ensuring these are followed and reviewed. Leaders also ensure there is a healthy reporting culture and they support people to report concerns, take reports seriously and act to investigate and make improvements to ensure children’s safety and wellbeing is protected.
The aim is to create an environment where everyone in the organisation understands their role and responsibilities to protect children, and that they act accordingly. All members of an organisation are accountable for providing a safe environment for every child.
Standard 2 - Voice of Children
Children are informed about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.
Creating spaces where children are knowledgeable about their rights and confident in their ability to express concerns, provide input, and participate in meaningful ways is an important aspect of being child safe.
The adults who support children in your organisation need to understand and respect children’s agency and take steps to ensure they are treated as competent and capable. This means adults tailor their approach based on the age, developmental stage, culture and any other specific needs of the child. Decision-making processes should centre on the perspectives of children and demonstrate genuine respect for their views.
Standard 3 - Family & Community
Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.
Child safety and wellbeing are strengthened when families and communities are informed, engaged and are active partners in promoting safe environments. Organisations should foster strong, transparent relationships with families and communities as valued contributors to the shared responsibility of protecting children. Open communication, trust and mutual respect are the foundation for collaborative and inclusive child-safe practices.
Standard 4 - Equity & Diversity
Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice.
Upholding equity and diversity helps build environments where every child feels valued, respected, supported and culturally safe. Equity should be reflected in every policy, decision and action, to ensure that all children have fair access to a safe, nurturing environment and healthy future. Equity requires that the unique needs of every child are met. This includes children from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, children who are refugees or asylum seekers, children with disability and children who identify as LGBTIQA+.
Challenge yourself to go beyond compliance and actively ensure that the unique needs of children from diverse cultures, backgrounds, abilities and identities are recognised, respected and met.
Standard 5 - People
People working with children are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.
The suitability and capability of staff and volunteers is pivotal to creating safe environments for children. Organisations must recruit and maintain a workforce of individuals who are not only qualified but are deeply committed to upholding children’s safety and wellbeing. Staff and volunteers should be supported with ongoing professional development and clear guidance, empowering them to model safe and respectful practices in every interaction.
Standard 6 - Complaints Management
Processes to respond to complaints and concerns are child focused.
Effective, child-focused complaint and concern processes are essential for protecting children. Children, families, carers, staff and volunteers involved in your business or organisation should feel safe and supported to speak up about concerns. Complaints must be managed in a timely, transparent, trauma-informed and respectful way, with the child’s wellbeing and safety at the centre of every response.
Standard 7 - Knowledge & Skills
Staff and volunteers of the entity are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and awareness to keep children safe through ongoing education and training.
Staff and volunteers are the backbone of child safe organisations.
It’s important that staff and volunteers are not only screened and qualified/trained, but also receive ongoing education, training, mentoring to build the knowledge, skills and awareness required to proactively safeguard children in all interactions. Training should be tailored to specific roles and equip your staff and volunteers to identify risks or harm, respond appropriately, and create environments where children feel safe and supported.
Standard 8 - Physical and Online Environments
Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing and minimise the opportunity for children to be harmed.
Creating safe environments, both physical and online, is a cornerstone of children’s safety and wellbeing.
Physical and online environments must prioritise the physical, social, spiritual, emotional, and cultural safety and wellbeing of all children. This requires a holistic, strengths-based approach to safety and wellbeing. It includes designing physical spaces to minimise risks and maintaining online platforms that are safe, well-monitored, and aligned with the Child Safe Standards.
Standard 9 - Continuous Improvement
Implementation of the Child Safe Standards is regularly reviewed and improved.
Ensuring children’s safety is a core priority means building an organisational culture that is responsive to challenges and new situations and is willing to learn and change.
Continuous improvement is a dynamic process where constant reflection on what is working and where challenges or gaps exist is prioritised. A child safe organisation ensures that progress and outcomes are set, measured and monitored based on a range of different success indicators, not just the normalised standards and methods. Continuous quality improvement processes contribute to a culture of accountability and a commitment to ongoing quality assurance and elevated practices.
Standard 10 - Policies & Procedures
Policies and procedures document how your organisation is safe for children.
Staff and volunteers at all levels of your organisation need to understand their individual responsibility to ensure transparency of all aspects of service delivery in a child safe organisation.
This means your organisation’s policies and procedures should clearly prioritise the safety and wellbeing of children and adequately equip staff and volunteers with a working knowledge to identify and prevent harm.
Universal Principle
The Universal Principle is about creating environments that make Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children feel culturally safe, which broadly means welcome, safe, valued, included and respected.
In culturally safe organisations:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples define cultural safety and how it is measured
workers develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes to recognise and address biases and stereotypes, and
systems are transformed so they work better for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.