Children and Young People’s Safety (CAYPS) is an ongoing research project that uses data from the Children’s Safety Survey and the Safeguarding Capabilities Survey. It examines children and young people’s perceptions of safety in institutional settings, and adults’ capabilities in safeguarding children in their work with youth-serving organisations.
Listening to the views of children, young people and the workforce is a central element in understanding how to improve child-safe practice. Findings from the CAYPS research project are used to inform further research, policy development and child-safe strategies.
The methodology for CAYPS was originally developed to inform the work of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, final report published in 2017.
In 2014 to 2015, we partnered with Griffith University and Queensland University of Technology, to develop an understanding of how children perceive safety and consider it within institutional contexts. Together we developed and deployed the Australian Survey of Kids and Young People survey (ASK-YP) which was codesigned with children and young people and was based on things they told us in focus groups. Survey scales were validated by Monash University, University of South Australia and ACU.
The survey was conducted online and completed by 1480 children and young people across Australia in 2015. We presented the findings in a report, ‘Our Safety Counts
This portal is aimed at people working in youth-serving organizations to help them better prevent and respond to harm to children.
If you would like to talk to a trained professional about what you’ve seen on the Portal, or need help, please call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
If you believe a child or young person is in immediate danger, call Police on 000.
Emergency and safety
For further information on crisis responses and reporting child abuse and neglect, see: Australian Institue of Family Studies website.
