Keeping Our Kids Safe: Cultural Safety and the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations

INTRODUCTION

In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, our children and family are everything. When it comes to keeping our children safe, we all have a role – as individuals and families, but also, as the community organisations we are part of.

Keeping Our Kids Safe: Cultural Safety and the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations is intended to support organisations engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to implement the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations (National Principles) in a culturally safe way.

The National Principles give effect to the child safe standards recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission). The Australian Government engaged the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to develop the National Principles and supporting resources, including leading national consultations. The National Principles were agreed upon by all Australian governments in February 2019.

The National Office for Child Safety (National Office) engaged SNAICC – National Voice for our Children (SNAICC) to develop a resource to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations to implement the National Principles and sustain organisational cultures that foster child safety and wellbeing. SNAICC, with the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA), developed this resource in consultation with a range of stakeholders who engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people, and their families across all Australian states and territories.

This resource assists Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, their communities and non-Indigenous organisations to embed and reinforce cultural safety across all levels of their organisations, in line with the National Principles. It highlights key cultural considerations that will assist organisations to ensure their spaces are culturally safe, and their programs and activities are free from racism and discrimination. These actions will help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children feel safe to participate and that their culture is respected and strengthened while they are engaged with the organisation.

This resource builds on the existing guidance materials available to support the National Principles. It adds a cultural lens for how the National Principles can be implemented to improve the safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. The resource is informed by, and aligns with, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.