Introduction

What are the Child Safe Standards?

The Victorian government has introduced compulsory minimum child safe standards that apply from 1 January 2016 to all organisations providing regulated or funded services for children. The child safe standards form part of the Victorian Government’s response to the Betrayal of Trust Inquiry, which found that more must be done to prevent and respond to child abuse in our community.
The purpose of the child safe standards is to drive continuous improvement in the way organisations prevent child abuse, encourage reporting and improve responses to allegations of abuse. The child safe standards closely align with existing regulatory requirements for early childhood services and many services will already be taking steps to implement the standards.
In complying with the child safe standards, the following principles must be applied to each standard: