Aligning results from Children and Young People Surveys to National Principles for Child Safe Organisations

Tools to help organisations assess how their results from either survey in the Children and Young People's Safety Survey align with the Australian National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.

Author: Douglas Russell

The Institute of Child Protection Studies (ICPS) has developed tools to help organisations that have conducted one of the surveys from the Children and Young People's Safety Survey. Using a tool for each survey can help you see how your results align with the Australian National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.

The tools are in a grid format that links questions from each survey - the Children's Safety Survey and the Safeguarding Capabilities Survey - to the National Principles.

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 10 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.

While many of the questions in each survey are associated with multiple principles, we have mapped each question against the principle it most aligned with, and also with principles they are aligned with to some extent. Colour codes help identify the principles for each question in the survey.

The grid can help you consider how well you are implementing the national principles and identify areas that need improvement to help your organisation 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.

Download the tools here:

  • Childrens Safety Survey: Aligning child safety in your organisation to the Australian National Principles for Child Safe Organisations
  • Safeguarding Capabilities Survey: Aligning the safeguarding capabilities of your workforce to the Australian National Principles for Child Safe Organisations

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