The Office of the Children’s Guardian (OCG) team are travelling to Broken Hill next week to help organisations to keep kids in our community safe by holding three free public workshops over two days at the Broken Hill Civic Centre.
NSW OCG Director for Child Safe Organisations, Louise Coe spoke with the Barrier Truth today about what the OCG learnt from the 2012 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and how they now help organisations working with children to recognise potential perpetrators, reduce the risk of perpetrators infiltrating organisations, and support children and young people to be heard if they make a disclosure about abuse.
“As from February 1, 2022, our child safe regulations and standards are mandatory and apply across all services working with children in New South Wales. So, sporting, and recreational organisations, education and health services, religious services and so on – it’s very broad,” said Ms Coe.
“We’ve got about 35,000 organisations registered for the Working with Children Check and there are 10 straightforward child safe standards for them to integrate into their programs.
“Teaching children about protective behaviours is important because things may happen at home might come out in an organizational setting, so it’s essential that organisational responses are appropriate,” she said. “We’re all about helping to create child safe cultures wherever we go.”
NSW Children’s Guardian Steve Kinmond OAM encourages people who work or volunteer with children to take advantage of this training opportunity.
“Our experienced trainers can help you learn about your organisation’s legal responsibilities under the Child Safe Scheme and Working with Children Check, and much more,” Mr Kinmond said.
About the workshops
Session 1 runs from 1:30pm to 3:30pm May 31
Empowerment and Participation for Children and Young People is a two-hour training session which provides advice, tools, and tips to help organisations empower children and young people to share what makes them feel safe or unsafe in an organisation.
When empowerment and participation is done well, children and young people are encouraged to speak up about the matters that are important to them, which keeps them safer.
Session 2 runs from 10am to 11:30pm June 1
Introduction to the Child Safe Standards workshop is an overview of each of the 10 Child Safe Standards along with tips on how to use the Standards in day-to-day, child-safe practices to keep children safe from harm and abuse and make sure organisations meet their obligations under the Child Safe Scheme.
Session 3 runs from 1:30pm to 3:30pm on June 1
The SAFE Series Protective-Behaviours Program is for childcare workers and early childhood teachers. The program helps very young children understand they have a right to always feel safe, that nothing is so awful they can’t talk about it, and they should be listened to and believed.
“The staff and volunteers of thousands of child-related organisations enrich the lives of children in NSW. Organisations must also be on the lookout for where they can do better and keep the skills of their workers up to date,” Mr Kinmond said.
The Office of the Children’s Guardian is holding the sessions on 31 May and 1 June at the Broken Hill Civic Centre, 31 Chloride Street.
To learn how to keep children safer, see youtube.com/watch?v=wy0xV0LsoKY
To register to attend a workshop, go to ocg.nsw.gov.au/events
