Sharing resources to ensure Safer Churches   

ACSL Online workshop for safeguarding professionals 

Australian Catholic Safeguarding Ltd (ACSL) are holding this workshop for professional standards officers, safeguarding officers and those in operational roles across Church entities with key safeguarding responsibilities within the scope of their role.

About the workshop: 

Managing risk for organisations working with children requires a genuine commitment to child safety and a willingness to manage risk proactively.

Standard 5 of the NCSS requires that people working with children are suitable and supported to reflect child safeguarding values in practice.

Oho is a social enterprise that helps organisations strengthen child safety and risk management practices by automating the revalidation of Working with Children Checks and other safeguarding accreditations.

This workshop presented by Oho will explore and clarify the requirements of Child Safety – Standard 5, obligations, compliance, and verification of checks.  

Topics covered included in the presentation are:

• Community Context
• Obligations
• Requirements by Jurisdiction
• Requirements of Organisations
• Penalties and Offenses
• Compliance
• Community Expectations

There will also be an opportunity for questions and discussion at the conclusion of the workshop.

DATE: Thursday September 23

TIME:  3.00pm - 4.00pm

WHERE: This is an online webinar event presented by ACSL and Oho

COST: This is a free online workshop for safeguarding professionals 

Register for this online workshop 

"LIKE THIS" -A documentary by young people about life online from Child Wise

This documentary is full of messages for all of us to hear: parents, politicians, social media companies or people who just care. And it’s finally through the words and voices of the people who matter most, but we rarely hear from.

You are invited to a screening of 'LIKE THIS'  which will be followed by Q&A with the young people afterwards. 

When: 28 October 2021

Time:  6:00 pm (AEST) PLEASE NOTE, whilst the time is currently showing as Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST), this will convert to Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) in October. The time of the event will remain 6PM on 28 October AEDT. Please check your local time against Australian Eastern Daylight Time.

Register: Online here 

Check out the trailer: on YouTube  

"People told me just delete it, but it's not that simple."

"There is so much our parents just don't understand." 

Like This - 10 Young People Talk About Social Media  Why is this so important? You probably already know that young people are majority users of social media, video games, online and offline apps, and the digital world more broadly. They live and breathe technology: from the moment they wake up to the moment they fall asleep – to learn, to communicate, to socialise and connect, and to simply navigate and make sense of the world we live in.   

Yet we find that their voices are missing from conversations and decision-making on how the digital environment impacts their safety, health and wellbeing, and how it should be regulated.  

This year's theme for Child Protection Week (5 - 11 September) is:  Every child, in every community, needs a fair go. To treat all of Australia’s children fairly, we need to make sure every family and community has what kids need to thrive and be healthy. 

At Child Wise, we believe that you can’t give children a fair go unless you actively seek out their views and opinions, and truly listen to what they have to say.

Join us and hear from an exceptional group of young people and their thoughts on risks, fears, privacy, relationships, and their lived experiences of empowerment and participation through technology.  

DATE CLAIMERS - Upcoming webinars – 15 October and 22 October 2021

1. WEBINAR - NSW Reportable Conduct Scheme for Religious Bodies: 9.30am – 12.30pm on Friday 15 October 2021

Are you a member of clergy or a spiritual leader in a religious body? Does the religious body require you to hold a Working with Children Check - whether as an employee or volunteer? If the answer is yes – you fall under the Reportable Conduct Scheme in NSW.

Join the Director and senior staff of the NSW Reportable Conduct Scheme for a 3 hour session to get expert and tailored information that will help your organisation understand its legal obligations. 

The session will cover how the reportable conduct scheme relates to your daily work and will include sector-specific data insights and case study examples, information about how to strengthen investigations and a question and answer session.

2. DATE CLAIMER – Professional Learning Webinar – Friday 22 October 2021

NCCA’s Safe Church Network is pleased to present a Professional Learning Webinar to our safeguarding community on embedding: 

National Child Safe Standard 2: Children participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.

Led by the Salvation Army of Australia, the webinar will share areas of research and programming that are looking at participation of children and youth in our mission and services. What are the participation and inclusion enablers and barriers that are being learned? Co-design with young people in services – what are the principles of participation that are being identified.

Friday 22 October 2021 is also the third anniversary of the National Apology to Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse and our webinar will commence with a reflection and prayer to acknowledge this important day.