Aligning results from Children and Young People's Safety surveys to National Principles for Child Safe Organisations
The Institute of Child Protection Studies (ICPS) has developed tools to help organisations that have conducted surveys from the Children and Young People's Safety (CAYPS) survey understand the findings better. This resource can help you see how your results align with the Australian National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.
The CAYPS project has two surveys: the Childrens Safety Survey and the Safeguarding Capabilities Survey. The methodology for the surveys was originally developed to inform the work of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2017). The National Principles reflect ten child safe standards recommended by the Royal Commission and cover not only child sexual abuse but also other forms of potential harm to children and young people.
The questions in the surveys are linked to the National Principles in the form of a grid. Although many of the questions in each survey link to multiple principles, we have mapped each question against the principle it most aligned with and then a secondary one.
There is a tool for each survey. The grid for the Childrens Safety Survey is red, and the grid for the Safeguarding Capabilities Survey is purple, with a darker shade indicating most aligned and a lighter shade indicating aligned to some extent.
The grid can help you consider how well you are implementing the national principles and identify areas that need to become more child safe.
We hope that once your organisation has results from the survey, you will be able to use the findings to help your continual process of improvement towards a culture of child safety. This tool might also be helpful for any auditing processes or requirements you are obligated to perform.
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.