The theme of NAPCAN’s annual National Child Protection Week for 2021 (5-11 September) is “Every child, in every community, needs a fair go. To treat all of Australia’s children fairly, we need to make sure that every family and community has what kids need to thrive and be healthy.” The 2021 theme is focused on the importance of the ‘bigger picture’ in addressing child abuse and neglect.
Australia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990. Under the Convention, children and young people, like adults, possess human rights, and also have the right to special protection because of their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse. In the more recent work of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission), it was recognised that more was required of institutions who work with children to make them child safe, and 10 Child Standards were recommended to guide institutions by setting best practice to drive cultural change and guide performance.
In February 2019, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) endorsed the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations (National Principles) (based on the Royal Commission’s Child Safe Standards) as the national benchmark for child safe organisation standards. All states and territories have committed to making the National Principles mandatory for all child-related organisations.
The National Principles are designed to look at the ‘bigger picture’ when it comes to child safety and wellbeing. Many of them provide guidance on how to ensure that children are treated fairly by addressing the broader needs of their families and communities. In particular, the National Principles include:
Several of the other National Principles also require consideration of families’ and communities’ views and diverse needs in order to implement those Principles well.
The National Principles collectively show that a child safe organisation is one that creates a culture, adopts strategies and takes action to not only prevent harm to children and young people, but to promote child wellbeing through equitable practices, including by respecting, considering and involving their families and communities.
Schools, as providers of education for children of diverse backgrounds, circumstances and needs, must recognise the importance of equity in all of their policies and practices. Equity is not about treating all students equally, but about recognising and meeting their diverse needs, and those of the families and communities in which they live, to enable them to thrive.
Most jurisdictions now require schools to comply with the National Principles, or versions of them, as part of registration requirements or under other legislation. Therefore, most schools will have policies and procedures that outline how to treat children fairly and promote equity (or, if they don’t, they will need to develop these in the near future).
What this looks like in practice for schools will differ from school to school. However, the following are practical tips on how schools can put equity into practice through involving their students’ families and communities, to ensure that every student has what they need “to thrive and be healthy”:
From a very practical perspective, schools could consider:
In a previous article, we focused on Principle 3 and how schools can practically and effectively embed it within the school community. CompliSpace also joined with Bravehearts during 2019 and 2020 to host a podcast series on the National Principles: The Child Safe Organisations Podcast. For each podcast in this series, we interviewed a different expert about each of the National Principles. The podcasts for National Principle 3 (with guest Gayle Walters – P&C Queensland) and National Principle 4 (with Guest Kelly Humphrey – Diversity Consultant) have some additional ideas about how schools can promote equity, meet their students’ diverse needs and involve families and communities in decision-making at the school.
NAPCAN is hosting an extensive webinar program starting on 6 September 2021 that includes many topics that will assist schools in putting equity into practice.
Deborah recently completed five years working with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse where she assisted the Royal Commission to establish the Private Session process and subsequently managed its legal aspects. Prior to working with the Royal Commission, Deborah had her own successful consulting practice where she specialised in the statutory child protection system, legal issues facing children and vulnerable people, and legal aid. She also spent more than nine years at Legal Aid NSW, as a child protection solicitor, Senior Solicitor and then Solicitor in Charge, Child Protection. Deborah holds a Juris Doctorate from the Columbia University School of Law, a Master of International Affairs from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and a Diploma in Law from Sydney University.
Karen recently completed three years working at the NSW Ombudsman and the Office of the Children’s Guardian as a Senior Investigator in employment related child protection. Karen also spent three years at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse as a Senior Legal and Policy Officer and was a key contributor to the “Redress and Civil Litigation” and “Criminal Justice” reports. Karen has worked as a commercial litigation lawyer both in the private and public sector and holds a bachelor’s degree in Arts/Law (Hons).