Child safe organisations: implementing the National Principles for children and young people with disability

This video discusses child sexual abuse and may bring up strong feelings for some people. Please take care when watching. If you or someone you know has been impacted by child sexual abuse, you are not alone. There are services and resources available to help. You can find a list of support services on ChildSafety.gov.au 

Children and young people with disability talk about what safety in an organisation means to them. 
We feel comfortable and confident when staff and volunteers think about accessibility. When they ask us about our access needs and listen to our ideas about how to make the space more accessible, this helps us feel valued.   

Knowing there's a quiet space we can go to spend some time alone or knowing there’s someone we can talk to, helps us feel supported. 

It’s not just about physical spaces. I feel safe when my culture and identity are respected. I feel like I belong when staff and volunteers celebrate various backgrounds and include mine. Being queer, disabled, and from a specific culture can be complex. Knowing my unique identity is respected and celebrated helps me feel seen and comfortable. 

I feel safe when staff and volunteers understand that disability is sometimes not visible, and is not the same for everyone. 

Communication matters. Some of us use sign language or other ways to communicate. We feel empowered when staff and volunteers adapt and focus on our strengths, and create welcoming and supportive environments. 

When staff and volunteers check in to see if I’m okay, respect me, my choices, my rights and my capacity, I feel safer, and accepted for who I am. 

What staff and volunteers do and say matters. Being respectful and valuing children and young people is important. If they see someone being mean or disrespecting us or breaching the organisation’s conduct in any way, they should intervene. 

It’s important that staff support my personal safety and rights. They need to ask my permission before they help me dress or help me with toileting, and they need to listen to me if I’m concerned or feel unsafe or uncomfortable. 

Online spaces can be hard to use. I’d like staff and volunteers to teach me how to be safe online and make an effort to understand what I’m interested in. It would help if staff checked in with me sometimes to make sure I’m not worried about anything happening online.  

Getting to know me beyond my access needs, or asking me what I am passionate about, helps me feel like people are making the effort to know me as an individual. This helps me feel safe and celebrated.

Children and young people with disability are the experts of our bodies and lives. Listen to what we have to say to make sure that our voices are heard and truly valued.   

And when we feel comfortable, included and valued, we are more likely to be safe in any organisation we interact with, and raise concerns when we have them.

Here are some questions you can think about to improve child safety and accessibility in your organisation.

1. What can you do to make children and young people with disability feel safe in your organisation?
2. How can you empower children and young people to speak up and raise concerns?
3. How can you make children and young people feel included and valued?  
4. How can you make children and young people with various identities and backgrounds feel included, safe and valued? 

Learn more about how organisations can implement the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, and prevent sexual, physical and emotional abuse at ChildSafety.gov.au.

This video discusses child sexual abuse and may bring up strong feelings for some people. Please take care when watching. If you or someone you know has been impacted by child sexual abuse, you are not alone. There are services and resources available to help. You can find a list of support services on ChildSafety.gov.au.

How can staff and volunteers create a safe space for children and young people with disability?

Children and young people with disability are 3 to 4 times more likely than their non-disabled peers to experience physical violence, emotional abuse, neglect and sexual violence.  

Creating safe spaces for children and young people with disability is essential for our wellbeing and empowerment. 

A safe space goes beyond physical spaces. Of course, we want smooth paths, wide doorways, and ramps so we can join in without worrying about getting hurt. But a truly safe organisation also places importance on the prevention and response to child abuse. 

As a starting point, all organisations should be implementing the 10 National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. They provide a foundation for how organisations should keep children and young people safe.  

They are flexible and can be applied to a variety of organisational types, sizes and capacities. 
Organisations must have child safety policies and procedures in place. They could also have child safeguarding officers who are trained to respond to child abuse disclosures in a trauma informed way.  

A safe space is where volunteers and staff are trained to understand child safety risk. They know what increases the risk of child abuse, including child sexual abuse in their organisation. They understand general protective factors to reduce the risk of child abuse, as well as disability related protective factors such as always seeking our consent before helping us with personal care.
Volunteers and staff should know the signs of child abuse and grooming, and understand us as individuals so they can tell when something might be wrong. They should know how to report suspicions or allegations of abuse or other misconduct.

There should be zero tolerance by staff and volunteers for any abuse or discriminatory behaviour. Any suspected or alleged cases of child abuse should be reported immediately.
Organisations must have child friendly complaint processes so we can raise our concerns in a way that is comfortable for us. Staff and volunteers must be aware of how we communicate so they understand when we are telling them something is wrong. They also need to know how to respond to disclosures of child abuse including child sexual abuse.  We need to be heard and taken seriously. 

Children and young people with invisible disability feel safe when volunteers and staff understand that we have a disability even if they cannot see it. For example, we might need extra time or someone to explain things to us in a way we can understand. Some organisations have posters about the sunflower scheme which is the recognised symbol for invisible disabilities.  

Cultural safety is especially important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people with disability. We deserve to see our culture respected and understood so we can join in and feel like we belong. Volunteers and staff can show respect for different cultures by learning about cultural practices, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. A safe space celebrates diversity, and feeling safe helps us speak up if something isn’t right. 

Staff and volunteers need to teach children and young people about internet safety, including how to protect our privacy and recognise online risks, including the risk of online child sexual abuse. Staff and volunteers can also teach our parents and carers about online safety so we can talk to them at home if we don’t feel safe. 

Children and young people should be informed about their rights. This includes knowledge about body parts, sex, consent and respectful relationships, as well as child sexual abuse and harmful sexual behaviours displayed by children and young people. Talking early and often with us about these topics helps us build our safety skills and prevents harmful sexual behaviours from occurring. These conversations need to be appropriate for our age and stage of development, inclusive and accessible and consider our unique contexts and characteristics.

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to start thinking about the safety of the organisation you volunteer or work in. 

1. Do I show respect and support the autonomy of the children and young people I work with by, for example, asking for consent when assisting them with self-care?
2. What steps can I and my organisation take to prevent child sexual abuse and other forms of abuse and misconduct?
3. If I see or hear something that is or might be child abuse, a breach of the organisation’s code of conduct or child safety policy, do I know how to respond and report my concern?
4. How can I and my organisation better support children and young people from various cultural backgrounds to feel safe, respected and included?
5. What can I and my organisation do to inform children and young people about their rights, including their right to be safe from abuse? 

Learn more about how organisations can implement the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations and prevent sexual, physical and emotional abuse at ChildSafety.gov.au.

This video discusses child sexual abuse and may bring up strong feelings for some people. Please take care when watching. If you or someone you know has been impacted by child sexual abuse, you are not alone. There are services and resources available to help. You can find a list of support services on ChildSafety.gov.au.

Your right to safety in organisations as children and young people with disability and their caregivers.

All children and young people have the right to feel safe and be safe when they interact with organisations. We have the right to feel included and be included, and can speak up if an organisation is not accessible or makes us feel uncomfortable or unsafe. 

Safety matters. We expect organisations to protect all children and young people. They should be implementing the 10 National Principles for Child Safe Organisations and have child safe policies and procedures in place that all staff and volunteers are familiar with. These policies and procedures should address all risks to children and young people with disability, including how to identify and respond to child sexual abuse and related harms. 

For children and young people to be safe from harm and abuse, they first need to be respected, included and valued within an organisation. 

We expect all organisations, such as schools, sports clubs and health centres, to find ways that make it possible for everyone to join in. We expect them to listen to the views of children and young people, and take the knowledge and views of their caregivers into account. 

For example, I can talk to staff about how to make the lights and sounds less overwhelming, and make sure organisations know how my child likes to communicate. 

We should be told about what the organisation is doing to keep children and young people safe from child abuse, including child sexual abuse, in a way that is clear and easy to understand. 

My body belongs to me. It is not okay for anyone to hurt me, or touch or see my body without a good reason, like a caregiver helping me with toileting or a doctor doing a check-up. Even if it’s someone I know, it’s still not okay. They should still tell me what they are doing and check it’s okay first. If ever I feel uncomfortable about what a grownup or another child is doing, I will tell someone I know and trust straightaway. Even if I was asked to keep it a secret. 

When we feel unsafe we sometimes feel yucky or funny in the tummy. Our heart might beat fast, or our body might feel hot, shaky or wobbly. Children and young people have the right to speak up if we do not feel safe. We can ask where, how and who to speak to if we do not feel safe. We should be given information in a child-friendly, and developmentally and age appropriate way. 

It’s not just about rules. Respect for my culture is important and helps to keep me safe.  As a First Nations young person, organisations should respect and celebrate my cultural practices and traditions. Organisations should challenge poor attitudes, face up to racism and show everyone they are valued.  

We want organisations to take the time to get to know us and our families. Before an event they should ask us what we need to be able to participate in a meaningful way. We have the right to have our family’s physical, sensory, or communication needs met, to help us feel welcome and included. 

We should be able to work with staff and volunteers who understand what it means for a child to feel safe and be safe. We have the right to interact with team members who are well-trained in child safety and cultural safety, to help everyone feel respected and welcome.

We have the right to expect that organisations will take the time to understand the unique views of children and young people with disability, and that organisations will ask us when they are unsure what we want or need. 

Questions for caregivers to ask organisations.

1. How will your organisation keep me or my child safe?
2. What are your child safeguarding policies and how do I find them?
3. Do you have a complaints policy? Are children and young people taught about where they can go for help?
4. How do your staff and volunteers make sure children and young people feel comfortable to speak up?
5. How do you show you are welcoming and inclusive to all families and children with different abilities, circumstances and cultural backgrounds, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures?

Learn more about having conversations with organisations about child safe practices at ChildSafety.gov.au.