Draft Child Safety and Participation Policy

We would like to invite your comments on the draft Child Safety and Participation Policy.

The draft policy is available in the Document Library on this page. Please use the Submission Form below to provide your response.

Deadline for comments: The closing date is COB Friday, 14 April 2023.

Contact: Allegra Zakis - azakis@bmcc.nsw.gov.au

Background:

Strategy and Performance Service has a draft Child Safety and Participation Policy for all staff consultation.

In response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the Children’s Guardian Amendment (Child Safe Scheme) Act was enacted in 2021 requiring organisations, including councils, to implement the 10 Child Safe Standards. The Standards provide a framework for organisations to create a culture of safety and inclusion, and develop strategies to keep children safe from harm.

The Standards are principle-based and focused on outcomes. Organisations have the flexibility to implement them in ways that are meaningful, achievable and related to their size, resources and workforce. The aim is to embed child safety in the attitudes, behaviours and practices of organisations and the people who work for them.

Implementation of the standards at BMCC will be phased in over several years across all directorates, policies, processes and procedures.

As a first step, Council adopted a Child Safe Statement of Commitment in August 2022.

The next step is adopting a Child Safety and Participation Policy, which outlines how we intend to embed the Standards and become a Child Safe organisation.

We would like to invite you to review and provide any feedback on the draft policy. Any feedback or questions can be submitted via the submission form or emailed directly to azakis@bmcc.nsw.gov.au.

Please note that the 10 Standards contained in the draft policy are a legislative requirement and cannot be altered.

Thank you in advance for your participation in this feedback process.