The Commissioner for Children and Young People has recently been appointed by the National Office of Child Safety (NOCS) to develop resources for children and young people explaining their right to speak up when they feel uncomfortable, unsafe or marginalised, and outlining the steps they can take to raise their concerns or make complaints within organisations.
The new resources will be aimed at empowering children and young people to use the complaints processes within organisations to raise concerns they have, to seek assistance and to report harm of any kind. A resource aimed at supporting adults in organisations will also be developed, as they have a critical role to play in keeping children safe, supporting them to speak up and taking action when concerns are raised.
The content and design of the resources will be developed based on consultation with children and young people as well as parents, carers or other significant adults, from a wide range of backgrounds and life experiences across Australia.
The development of these resources will make an important contribution to fulfilling key recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
This work also represents a valuable opportunity for organisations to shape their own child-friendly complaints resources in line with Principle 6 of the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, which states that organisations should have processes to respond to complaints and concerns that are child-focused and uphold the rights of children and young people.
Please visit their website for more information. Here you will find survey links, focus group information and other project resources.