Child Safety Policy

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Background

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established in response to allegations of sexual abuse of children in organisations that had been emerging in Australia for many years (Royal Commission Final Report 2017). At the end of the 5-year enquiry, the Commissioners had listened to the personal stories of over 8,000 survivors, read over 1,000 written accounts and reviewed allegations of child sexual abuse in more than 4,000 institutions including in programs and services provided by Local Governments. Some common findings that contributed to this included:

  • Poor practices
  • Inadequate governance structures
  • Failures to record and report complaints, or understating the seriousness of complaints
  • A culture where the best interests of children were not a priority.

The Royal Commission recommended that all organisations that have any contact with children must be compliant with 10 National Child Safe Standards. The Standards are a benchmark against which organisations can assess their child safe capacity and set performance targets for a best practice approach to child safety. On 19th February 2019 the Council of Australian Governments endorsed the National Child Safe Standards.

Current Position

A Draft Child Safety Policy has been prepared outlining Council’s approach to keeping children safe and articulating Council’s expectations of all those who provide services for children on behalf of Council, or who otherwise provide programs and activities for children at Council owned or controlled facilities.

At its meeting on 2 June 2020 Council resolved to place this draft Child Safety Policy on public exhibition.

Following community comment, the draft policy will again be considered by Council and, subject to adoption, will come into force immediately after.

The draft policy can be viewed on this page.

Submissions on the draft policy will be received by Council up until Friday 3 July 2020.

You can provide us with your feedback on the proposed Policy by:

  1. Completing the online submission form below
  2. Writing to Mosman Council, PO Box 211, Spit Junction NSW 2088
  3. Emailing council@mosman.nsw.gov.au

Enquiries: Andrew Smith, Manager Community Services, 9978 4006 or a.smith@mosman.nsw.gov.au

Background

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established in response to allegations of sexual abuse of children in organisations that had been emerging in Australia for many years (Royal Commission Final Report 2017). At the end of the 5-year enquiry, the Commissioners had listened to the personal stories of over 8,000 survivors, read over 1,000 written accounts and reviewed allegations of child sexual abuse in more than 4,000 institutions including in programs and services provided by Local Governments. Some common findings that contributed to this included:

  • Poor practices
  • Inadequate governance structures
  • Failures to record and report complaints, or understating the seriousness of complaints
  • A culture where the best interests of children were not a priority.

The Royal Commission recommended that all organisations that have any contact with children must be compliant with 10 National Child Safe Standards. The Standards are a benchmark against which organisations can assess their child safe capacity and set performance targets for a best practice approach to child safety. On 19th February 2019 the Council of Australian Governments endorsed the National Child Safe Standards.

Current Position

A Draft Child Safety Policy has been prepared outlining Council’s approach to keeping children safe and articulating Council’s expectations of all those who provide services for children on behalf of Council, or who otherwise provide programs and activities for children at Council owned or controlled facilities.

At its meeting on 2 June 2020 Council resolved to place this draft Child Safety Policy on public exhibition.

Following community comment, the draft policy will again be considered by Council and, subject to adoption, will come into force immediately after.

The draft policy can be viewed on this page.

Submissions on the draft policy will be received by Council up until Friday 3 July 2020.

You can provide us with your feedback on the proposed Policy by:

  1. Completing the online submission form below
  2. Writing to Mosman Council, PO Box 211, Spit Junction NSW 2088
  3. Emailing council@mosman.nsw.gov.au

Enquiries: Andrew Smith, Manager Community Services, 9978 4006 or a.smith@mosman.nsw.gov.au