Ensuring your church is a safe environment for all children.

We all want our churches to be safe places for everyone, particularly children and young people.

A foundation for this is ensuring that you have robust Child Safety Policy and Procedures in place.

Your denomination likely has resources available to support you in this area. You can also access a range of practical resources from key state and national bodies, some of which we’ve listed below.

Both preventative and responsive measures are involved and include, but are not limited to: 

• Understanding duty of care, harmful behaviours, and boundaries,
• Identifying and managing risks,
• Screening and supervision of personnel (staff and volunteer),
• Clear procedures for responding to incidents and concerns, and
• Safe communications and appropriate use of images.

Avenues for resources or support:

• National Office of Child Safety – National Principles Child Safe Organisations
• Australian Human Rights Commission: Child Safe Organisations

• NSW Office of the Children’s Guardian: Child Safe Standards
• VIC Commission for Children and Young People
• QLD Family and Child Commission | QLD Blue Card Organisations Risk Management
• WA Commission for Children and Young People: Child Safe Organisations
• TAS Consumer Building and Occupational Services: Child Safe Organisations
• SA Human Services: Child Safe Environments
• NT Office of the Children’s Commissioner: Child Safe Organisations
• ACT Human Rights Commission: Child Safe Organisations

• Creating Safer Communities Safe Ministry Resources for churches.
• The Safe Ministry site and resources from the Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney, Professional Standards Unit.
• The Hillsong Safe Church Team can be contacted via safechurch@hillsong.com

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Being trauma-informed is a significant part of creating safe and inclusive spaces and programs for children. The Homeward Project Trauma-informed Training will equip your Kids and Youth Ministry staff and volunteers with understanding and knowledge of how and why a child from a “hard place” or with a difficult history may behave differently in a church environment. The training also provide practical strategies to create safe spaces for all children and young people. Find out more at the link below.