Child Safe Awareness Policy template for local government

In 2018 the State Government accepted or accepted in principle, all 310 recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission) applicable to Western Australia.

The Royal Commission acknowledged the role that local governments play in creating and maintaining child safety in their communities and made a number of recommendations aimed at using this role to promote the safety and wellbeing of children and young people.

The Child Safe Awareness Policy template has been developed in response to Royal Commission Recommendation 6.12 and commits local governments in WA to build and maintain child safety awareness and knowledge by providing information for the organisations and individuals that operate in their communities and promoting child safe messages.

Following WALGA State Council support of the template on 3 March 2023, DLGSC has created a landing page for the template and associated implementation resources so that all local government staff can access the most current versions of the documents when required.

DLSGC recommends that local governments use the template to create their own Child Safe Awareness Policy and fulfill their obligations under the Royal Commission Recommendation 6.12.

If you have any questions about the template, please contact DLGSC’s Child Safeguarding Implementation Unit by email at childsafeguarding@dlgsc.wa.gov.au