Child and Youth Safe Organisations Framework

While all Tasmanian organisations can and should work to be child safe organisations, the law establishing the Framework lists specific types of organisations that must comply with it.

Broadly speaking, this includes schools, sporting clubs for kids, hospitals, dance groups — to name just a few.

The below table summarises the types of organisations that will be required to follow the Framework, and when their compliance must start.

This online tool provides more information about each of these organisational types and their compliance obligations.

The Child and Youth Safe Organisations Act 2023 provides cites specific laws relevant to the types of organisations required to comply with the Framework.

"I know adults in an organisation care about my safety and wellbeing when they take me seriously."

- Eve, who wants to become a doctor.

• In the context of the Framework, a child or youth is someone under 18 years old.
• Organisations will receive guidance about what they need to do to comply with the Framework.
  It's important to know that organisations of all shapes and sizes will be supported to comply with the Framework in a way that makes sense for them.
  
  For example, compliance guidance for Tasmanian organisations will be developed that gives outlines how they can follow the Framework.
  
  While this localised guidance is being developed, Tasmanian organisations might like to check out resources from other states that already have their versions of the Framework in place, as well as national tools and templates.
  
  This includes:
  
  • National resources on how to be a child safe organisation
  • National resources on Aboriginal Cultural Safety
  • Victorian resources for their Child Safe Standards
  • Victorian resources for their Reportable Conduct Scheme
  • NSW resources for their Child Safe Standards
  • NSW resources for their Reportable Conduct Scheme.

These resources should be reviewed with the knowledge that the Independent Regulator of Tasmania's Reportable Conduct Scheme will release its own guidance in due course.

• While some organisations must follow the Framework by law, all Tasmanian organisations are encouraged to do so by choice.
  
  We can all play our part to keep children and young people in Tasmania safe. That’s why the Framework can be followed by anyone, even if their organisation isn’t compelled to do so by the law.
• The Framework won’t replace or remove the need for existing child safeguarding processes.
  
  If you currently have obligations such as making mandatory reporting notifications, or need to report something to the police, the Framework won’t change that.
• Many organisations required to comply with the Framework will already have processes in place that align with their new legal obligations.
  
  This may include child-safe policies and procedures, or compliance with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, which are the same as our Child and Youth Safe Standards.
• The different parts of the Framework — the Child and Youth Safe Standards, and the Reportable Conduct Scheme — relate to and reinforce each other.
  
  Try to think about the elements of the Framework — the Child and Youth Safe Standards, and the Reportable Conduct Scheme — as two rooms within the same house.
  
  They’re separate but connected. If an organisation is putting the Child and Youth Safe Standards into action, they are creating an environment in which any concerns about possible harm done to a child are taken seriously and thoroughly investigated.
  
  Similarly, an investigation through the Reportable Conduct Scheme may reveal issues with the effectiveness of the organisation’s policies and procedures under the Child and Youth Safe Standards, and lead to improvements being made.
• The Framework is established by the Child and Youth Safe Organisations Act 2023.

"I know adults in an organisation care about my safety and wellbeing when they prioritise my comfort and happiness, whilst also being reasonable, show compassion and empathy for me, as well as making me feel valued."

- Ella, who wants to make their world a place that everyone would want to be in.

The Framework will benefit children and young people in Tasmania by:

• upholding and respecting their rights, including their right to safety
• creating new legal responsibilities for organisations that engage with them that are in the child or young person's best interest
• outlining clear principles that organisations need to put into practice to create a child-centred culture, including how they involve families and carers
• strengthening independent oversight of how reports about workers' behaviour are investigated
• enhancing awareness and knowledge of what keeps children and young people safe, as well as risks to their safety
• making it easier and clearer for organisations and regulators to share information, with a view to keeping children and young people safe
• establishing the Independent Regulator, who will be able to be contacted by children and young people directly if they have concerns.

"People in charge of an organisation should listen to me when I speak up because the ideas I have might give them a pathway to a new opportunity to grow."

- Bella, who wants to be a role model.

Some other states already have their version of the Framework in place. Their experiences suggest the Framework's introduction in Tasmania will contribute to:

• giving organisations a way to demonstrate and celebrate the ways they are child and youth safe
• clear principles to guide their approach to being a child safe organisation
• further empowering children and young people to participate in the organisations they engage with
• improved responses to allegations of harm to children and young people within organisations
• better understanding of behaviours that amount to reportable conduct, especially sexual misconduct and grooming
• strengthened information sharing, which in turn assists in identifying people who should not be working with children and young people.

You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date about the development and implementation of the Child and Youth Safe Organisations Framework.

To subscribe:

1. Go to the subscription webpage
2. Fill in your details
3. Check the box that says ‘Child and Youth Safe Organisations Framework’.

Read past issues of the newsletter:

• January 2024
• December 2023
• November 2023
• October 2023
• September 2023
• July 2023
• June 2023
• May 2023
• March 2023
• February 2023
• January 2023
• November 2022
• September 2022

Visit our page on translating this website.

In fact, the statement is false.

The Framework is not an accreditation scheme. Organisations do not complete a set of mandated tasks or training to attain Child and Youth Safe Organisations 'status'.

This is for a number of reasons. A key one is that the point of the Framework is for organisations to be continuously and creatively working to be child and youth safe, as opposed to a discrete process that is completed and time limited. Child and Youth Safe Organisations consciously and systematically create strategies and practices that bring the principles of the Framework to life.

That said, training may be form part of this work. Likewise, organisations may choose to publicly and proudly speak to what they do to be a Child and Youth Safe Organisation.

It can be useful to think of the Framework as being like Work Health and Safety, in this way.

Well done, you chose the correct answer.

The Framework is not an accreditation scheme. The point of the Framework is for organisations to be continuously and creatively working to be child and youth safe, as opposed to a discrete process that is completed and time limited. Child and Youth Safe Organisations consciously and systematically create strategies and practices that bring the principles of the Framework to life.

It can be useful to think of the Framework as being like Work Health and Safety, in this way.