Child Safety

Children and young people must be kept safe by the organisations and adults who work with them.

Council is committed to child safety. We provide a working environment that values safety, diversity and inclusion for all children and adheres to the Victorian Child Safe Standards and related legislation.

If a child is in immediate danger or the incident relates to child sexual or physical abuse, you must call 000

Reporting a Child Safety Concern

Please complete a Child Safety Incident Report Form if you are concerned about the conduct of a Council Employee, Volunteer, Contractor or Councillor towards a child or young person. Any complaints will be treated seriously and in accordance with the Reportable Conduct Scheme.

You can report any child safety concerns, to Council via the Child Safety Incident Report Form or phone 03 9262 6334.

If you or the person wanting to make a report, speaks a language other than English, you can contact Council via the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) on 131 450.

Any concerns will be treated seriously.

You can also make a report to the Commission for Children and Young People by emailing contact@ccyp.vic.gov.au or calling 03 8601 5884 (Monday to Friday).

Helpful Resources:

Incidents Unrelated to Council

Below lists some of the organisations you can contact to report a child safety concern or complaint that is unrelated to Council.

If you see or hear something that is concerning and you are not sure what to do or who to tell, contact:

Commission for Children and Young People on 1300 78 29 78 or email contact@ccyp.vic.gov.au

If you see or hear something that seems suspicious, makes you feel uncomfortable and requires further investigation, contact:

Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000

If you receive a disclosure from a child about abuse or neglect, or observe indications of abuse or neglect, contact:

Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Child Protection
- Metropolitan Southern: 1300 655 795
- All regions after hours: 131 278

If you’re made aware of the possible harm to a child, contact:

Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Child Protection
- Metropolitan Southern: 1300 655 795
- All regions after hours: 131 278

If you have formed a reasonable belief that a child is experiencing sexual and/or physical abuse, contact:

Police on 000
Whitehorse Police Station on 8851 1111
Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Child Protection
- Metropolitan Southern: 1300 360 391
- All regions after hours: 131 278

The Reportable Conduct Scheme

The Reportable Conduct Scheme (established by the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005) aims to improve organisations’ responses to allegations of certain types of misconduct involving children, committed by their workers and volunteers. It imposes legal obligations on heads of organisations to have systems in place to prevent child abuse, and if child abuse is alleged, to ensure allegations are brought to the attention of appropriate persons for investigation and response.

Reportable conduct against a child includes:

Sexual offences
Sexual misconduct
Physical violence
Significant emotional or psychological harm
Significant neglect

The Reportable Conduct Scheme has been designed to ensure that the Commission for Children and Young People will be aware of every allegation of certain types of employee/volunteer misconduct involving children. The Commission must be informed of all allegations of child abuse involving a worker or volunteer, and independently monitors all investigations undertaken by organisations.

Resources:

Make a Child Safety Incident Report

The Child Safe Standards

Council has taken steps to safeguard child safety and adhere to the Child Safe Standards. Understand how our policies protect children and young people from harm.

What are the new Child Safe Standards?

New Child Safe Standards

The new Standards have been updated from 7 to 11 Standards and include new requirements such as:

involving families and communities in organisations’ efforts to keep children and young people safe
a greater focus on safety for Aboriginal children and young people
managing the risk of child abuse in online environments.

For more information, visit the Commission for Children and Young People.

Helpful Resources

About the Child Safe Standards

Whitehorse City Council is required by law to implement Child Safe Standards in order to protect children from harm.

The Standards were established by the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005. The Standards address sexual, physical, emotional, and psychological abuse. It also covers serious neglect of children under the age of 18 years.

The Child Safe Standards are a set of eleven standards that aim to create and maintain child safe environments.

The purpose of the Child Safe Standards

The Child Safe Standards aim to:

Promote the safety of children
Prevent child abuse
Ensure organisations and businesses have effective processes in place to respond to - and report all - allegations of child abuse.

The Child Safe Standards work by:

Driving changes in organisational culture – embedding child safety in everyday thinking and practice
Providing a minimum standard of child safety across all organisations
Highlighting that we all have a role to keep children safe from abuse.

Whitehorse Council's Statement of Commitment to the Child Safe Standards

As valued and respected members of our community, we encourage and support the participation and empowerment of all children and young people.
Children and young people have the right to be safe at all times and Council has a zero tolerance towards child abuse. Council recognises that the safety of our children and young people is a whole of community responsibility and is everyone’s business.
Council’s commitment to providing a safe environment for children and young people includes policies and systems, risk mitigation and ongoing education for all employees, contractors and volunteers in child safety.

Council is committed to:

Preventing child abuse occurring within our services, programs and facilities.
Creating an organisational culture of child safety.
Setting clear expectations of employees, volunteers and contractors to what is required to keep children safe.
Ensuring employees, volunteers and contractors are clear about their responsibilities when they suspect abuse of a child.
Ensuring all suspected abuse is reported and fully investigated.
Creating opportunities to include Aboriginal children, young people and their families, and we acknowledge and appreciate Aboriginal culture, connection to Country cultural safety.
Council pays particular attention to the needs of children and young people with disability, children and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, those who are unable to live at home, and LGBTIQA+ children and young people.

Whitehorse Council's Child Safety & Wellbeing Policy

The Child Safety & Wellbeing Policy ( PDF 1.49MB) sets a clear expectation for creating and maintaining a welcoming and safe environment for children and young people. Council takes the responsibility of child safety seriously, and values the voice of children and young people.

This Policy guides Council's response to instances, allegations, disclosures and/or concerns of child abuse or neglect. The Policy outlines direction for accurate and effective child safety reporting and responding.

Whitehorse Council's Child Safety Action Plan 2022 - 2025

Translated Child Safe Standards

The Child Safe Standards information sheet is available from the Commission for Children and Young People in the following languages.

Arabic
Burmese
Chinese - Simplified
Chinese Traditional
Dari
Dinka
Greek
Hindi
Indonesian
Koren
Pashto
Persian
Punjabi
Sinhalese
Somali
Tagalog
Tamil
Urdu
Vietnamese

Read an overview of the Child Safe Standards and the Reportable Conduct Scheme in a range of community languages.

Information for Children, Young People and Families

Child friendly information and resources for families, children and young people.

Online Safety Basics for Families

Help your children safely navigate the digital world, and educate them to avoid harmful online experiences. Explore websites, games, apps and social media together and set some rules.

The eSafetyCommissioner hosts information on the online risks and safety for children, young people and families.

Information and resources can be found on:

Cyberbullying
Screen time
Parental controls
Gaming
Online safety basics
Privacy and your child
Gambling via online games
Risk to be considered for online safety

The eSafetyCommissioner have dedicated pages for parents, young people and kids.

Who can I contact for help?

Where to get help?

Kids Helpline is a free 24/7, confidential and private counselling service for children and young people aged 5 to 25 years.

You can speak to them:

over the phone
via email
through online live chat

You can contact Kids Helpline about a wide range of issues. This includes everyday topics such as family, friends and school. You can also talk to them about more serious issues like child abuse, bullying, mental health issues, drug and alcohol use, homelessness and suicide.

The following are some other organisations children can contact for help.

Reach out to Headspace for support or call them on 1800 650 850
Visit your the Whitehorse Police Station or call the Police to make a report on 000.

Online Gaming Information for Parents & Guardians

Like anything, gaming can have both positive and negative outcomes for young people. An important part of looking after your family’s health and wellbeing is setting boundaries with young people for a healthy online life.

Gambling elements are very common in online games. At first glance they may not look like gambling, however monetary gambling elements can include:

social casino games
virtual goods like weapons
virtual character cosmetic upgrades, sometimes called 'skins'
loot boxes

These monetary game purchases will generally fall into three categories:

subscriptions
non-consumable purchases
consumable purchases

Explore these helpful information guides from the Responsible Gambling Foundation for more information on gaming:

You can also explore the classifications and themes of computer games on the Australian Classification website. The classifications will state if a game has simulated gambling, violence or sexual references amongst other themes.

Child Safety Information for Children and Young People

Children can expect to be safe and to feel safe, wherever they go and whatever they do.

They can expect that adults who work with children know how to keep them safe.

Children can tell someone if they don’t feel safe. There are many people who can help you including Whitehorse City Council.

View the Child Safety policy - child friendly version ( PDF 406.58KB)
Download the Child Safety poster - child friendly version ( PDF 161.69KB)
Keeping kids safe and well

You are here

Reporting a Child Safety Concern

Helpful Resources:

The Child Safe Standards

Information for Children, Young People and Families