Child safe organisations: How can staff and volunteers create a safe space 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.

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.