Child Safe Environment Program

The Child Safe Environment program helps organisations to create and keep environments that are safe and welcoming for children and young people.

This means spaces where children and young people:

• are protected
• feel respected, valued and encouraged to reach their full potential
• are heard.

We do this by supporting:

• organisations to create child-safe policies and procedures that follow state laws and the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations
• organisations to lodge their Child-Safe Environments Compliance (CSEC) statement
• facilitators of the Safe Environments Through Their Eyes training program.

The National Principles for Child Safe Organisations are high-level principles that set out a national approach to creating organisational cultures and practices that promote the safety and wellbeing, and prevent harm and risk of harm, of children in Australia. Safety includes (but is not restricted to) cultural, psychological and physical aspects that ensure children and young people are safe and supported no matter who and where they are, or what organisation they engage with.

Each state and territory is responsible for implementing the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations or equivalent standards within their jurisdiction. In South Australia, the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations replaced the Principles of Good Practice in the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017.

As a prescribed organisation, the department has a Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy, which applies to all the children, young people and families we work with.