Learn - Safeguarding Children Services

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Working at the CETC

As a division of the Australian Childhood Foundation, the CETC primary aim is to mobilise knowledge to improve outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care. If you have a commitment to hard work and would love the opportunity to support system change, we would love to hear from you.

Participate in research

Our research relies on strong partnerships with practitioners, organisations and those with lived experience of out-of-home care. If you would like be involved, please read more about our latest research project.

Share your knowledge

We believe in the common saying, “none of us is as smart as all of us”. If you are a carer, practitioner, policy maker or researcher with knowledge to share, we would love to hear from you.

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Building and supporting child safe organisations

The abuse and exploitation of children and young people by employees and volunteers within organisations can be prevented. Our Safeguarding Services are designed to help organisations build their capacity to keep children safe from abuse and exploitation by employees and volunteers.

Why do organisations fail to protect children and young people from abuse and exploitation?

We have developed a model for understanding the reasons that organisations fail in their duty of care to protect children and young people from abuse and exploitation. In this diagram, we have set out a summary of the factors that lead to failure to protect.

Failure to protect children starts with an ineffective organisational culture that is not resourced by the leadership of the organisation. Often effective governance structures and protocols are absent. Poor or not well-executed policies and procedures complicate and confuse decision making processes for staff, volunteers and service users. All of these factors lead to a lack of knowledge and a lack of confidence by staff to know how to respond to the risks that may occur in relation to children and young people.

How do we help?

Our Safeguarding Services team are experienced consultants who have worked in and with multiple organisations across a number of settings such as schools, sport, early childhood sectors, recreation, child and family welfare, aged care, homeless services, disability services, family violence and child protection. We build strong partnerships that work for organisations and make a real difference to the safety children and young people you support and engage with.

We can provide any or all of the service activities at affordable cost with a proven track record in understanding and delivering outcomes on time. We bring with us the extensive experience of the rest of the Foundation’s established expertise in working with childhood trauma and vulnerable families. We are a recognised Registered Training Organisation with innovative learning platforms that meet the needs of all individuals regardless of their role in children.

Safeguarding Services are most widely known for our evidence-based Certification and Accreditation Programs. These initiatives are perfect for organisations that are pursuing the ultimate goal of embedding a strong child safe culture that not only meets compliance but also delivers real protection and support too all children and young people.

We offer practical and effective tools and resources for engaging children, young people and parents or carers in participatory processes that facilitate feedback and the co-design of service improvements.

Get in touch with the Safeguarding Children Team to find out how we can support your organisation.

Child safety training

We can support your organisation to establish a culture of safeguarding children and young people. We offer a foundational online training that is appropriate for all personnel, including staff, volunteers, leaders and Board Members. Grounded in evidence and best practice of how to keep children and young people safe in all settings, this is an affordable and impactful way to strengthen your organisation’s safeguarding approach.

We can also tailor training to meet your organisation’s needs, delivered via virtual workshops and in-person. Not only do we offer training in contemporary best practice around child safety, we also draw on our extensive understanding of neuroscience, trauma, sexual exploitation and working with vulnerable children and families to provide learning opportunities that deepen your knowledge and confidence.

Foundational training

The online Foundational Safguarding Children and Young People training is designed to empower people working in organisations to create safe environments by protecting them from abuse and exploitation.

This training provides participants with a comprehensive understanding of their ibligations, integrating research with evidence-based practice, as well as helpful resources.

Certification

Safeguarding Children Certification enables organisations to be confident that their policies and procedures meet the National Child Safe Principles and are compliant with all legislative and other relevant requirements.

We provide organisations with tools that will enable organisational policies and procedures to be benchmarked against best practice and minimum standards. Most organisations achieve certification within 12 months, and this remains valid for a maximum of three years.

Accreditation

The Safeguarding Children Program is a unique voluntary accreditation scheme for organisations who have a duty of care to children and young people whilst delivering a service of activity to them and /or their families.

It systematically builds the capacity of organisations to keep children and young people safe from abuse and exploitation by staff, volunteers or other relveant related individuals.

Safeguarding Children Accreditation supports a wide range of organisations in an ongoing way and is the only accreditation scheme in Australia to have received endorsement by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Safeguarding resources and tools

We have developed a range of resources and tools for professionals working with children and young people in a range of settings. They cover topics that we have been asked about the most frequently. Our commitment is to make learning about child safety as easy as possible.

How can we assist your organisation?

We have a dedicated team that is available to work closely with key personnel in your organisation to assess strengths and areas for development in relation to your Safeguarding Children capacity and culture.

When you engage us, our Safeguarding Services team will tailor strategies that work for you, your budget and your organisation’s needs. We build partnerships that work and make a real difference to the children and young people you support and engage with.

Fill out the form below to find out more.