Why invest in Training Programs?

Child Safe Strategies offers face to face and online training in real time for all levels of personnel including Boards, senior management, staff, volunteers, communities, and parents. We ensure that everyone is informed from the basement to the boardroom and feels confident with their role and responsibilities to make sure children can thrive. This is how a child safe culture is truly established. We support schools, sporting clubs, early childhood sectors, recreation, child and family welfare, family violence services, homeless services, disability services, child protection and parents.

Benefits of well-informed staff and volunteers:

• Informs staff of the prevalence of abuse so they understand why a child safe organisation is so important and what this entails.
• Demonstrates a serious commitment to keep children and young people safe for staff, volunteers, parents, and children
• The training clearly demonstrates to staff that they are supported in doing everything in their influence to keep children and young people safe from abuse.
• Creates a very positive child safe culture across the organisation, it is everyone’s business.
• Staff and volunteers learn that having a working with children check does NOT keep children safe, this is one of many other components.
• Staff and volunteers feel empowered and confident to speak up if they are concerned about something or identify a potential risk.
• Education and awareness can prevent brand damage and financial loss as communities and funding providers would not consider them if they were not proactive about keeping children safe.
• By educating organisations, potential offenders are likely to be deterred from entering the organisation or motivate those that are there with the intent to offend to self-select out.
• Is likely to increase funding for organisations as parents become more aware of what to look for when choosing a child safe organisation for their children.

What are the risks if we don’t train our people?

In Victoria a statutory duty of care has been created under the Wrongs Amendment (Organisational Child Abuse) Act 2017 (see Part XIII of Wrongs Act 1958) to ensure there is a clear legal duty placed on organisations to take reasonable steps to minimise the risk of child abuse, perpetrated by organisational representatives.

This means a child abuse survivor (plaintiff) will have a clear cause of action when commencing legal proceedings against an organisation for the sexual and/or physical abuse of a child. It is then up to the organisation to prove that it took reasonable precautions to prevent the abuse. This duty provides clarity for both organisations and survivors of abuse.

An organisation that is not compliant and committed to child safety may not be considered for funding opportunities or may lose funding.

The impact that abuse has on a child, their family, an organisation, and individuals is devastating.

Brand damage can be very long lasting if the organisation does survive.