Child safe organisations

The Child Safe Organisations Act 2024 (effective 1 October 2025) is designed to promote the safety, wellbeing, and best interests of all Queensland youths.

The Act establishes an integrated child safe organisation system in Queensland, including:

• mandatory Child Safe Standards for businesses or organisations working with or providing spaces and facilities for youths – this includes organisations providing services funded by the Department of Youth Justice and Victim Support
• a nationally consistent Reportable Conduct Scheme.

The Queensland Family and Child Commission (QFCC) is the oversight body while the Department of Youth Justice and Victim Support is the sector regulator for the youth justice service sector.

Child Safe Standards

1. Leadership and culture – Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in the entity’s organisational leadership, governance, and culture.
2. Voice of youths – Youths are informed about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.
3. Family and community – Families and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safety and wellbeing.
4. Equity and diversity – Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice.
5. People – People working with youths are suitable and supported to reflect child safety and wellbeing values in practice.
6. Complaints management – Processes to respond to complaints and concerns are youth focused.
7. Knowledge and skills – Staff and volunteers of the entity are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and awareness to keep youths safe through ongoing education and training.
8. Physical and online environments – Physical and online environments promote safety and wellbeing and minimise the opportunity for youths to be harmed.
9. Continuous improvement – Implementation of the Child Safe Standards is regularly reviewed and improved.
10. Policy and procedures – Policies and procedures document how the entity is safe for youths.

In implementing the 10 standards, you will also need to consider the Universal Principle. This is about creating culturally safe environments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youths and their families, which broadly means they feel welcome, safe, valued, included and respected.

Self-assessment tool and action plan

The self-assessment tool for implementing the Child Safe Standards and Universal Principle (the tool) supports staff, managers, and directors to consider child safeguarding within their organisation.

The tool gives an assessment of current child safe practices, and the work required to improve practices.

The action plan helps organisations demonstrate they are building, strengthening, or elevating their practices to become a child safe organisation.

Under the Child Safe Organisations Act 2024, the QFCC can request a child safe organisation to conduct a self-assessment and provide a report on their current level of compliance and actions being taken to improve how the organisation is implementing the standards.

The tool, action plan, and other resources are available on the QFCC website.

Key dates

For further information visit the QFCC website.

Resources

Legislation

• Child Safe Organisations Act 2024

Useful templates, checklists and guides

• Creating a Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
• National Principles for Child Safe Organisations: Child Safety and Wellbeing policy template
• Creating a Child Safe Code of Conduct
• Codes of Conduct - a guide to developing child safe Codes of Conduct
• Child Safe induction checklist
• National Principles for Child Safe Organisations: Checklist for online safety
• A guide for board and committee members: Implementing and monitoring the Child Safe Scheme
• Keeping our kids safe: Cultural Safety and the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations

Note: The above resources have been developed by organisations interstate. These may support organisations to create their own version and to implement the Child Safe Standards.

Blue Card Services

• Blue Card Services
• Support for the Blue Card Services Organisation Portal
• Executive officers and board or committee member blue card requirements

Training resources

• Webinar: Introduction to Child Safe Organisations – Developed by the QFCC, this webinar explores what the Child Safe Organisation Act means in practice, including the Child Safe Standards, the Universal Principle, and the Reportable Conduct Scheme. It aims to provide an understanding of the reforms, how they work together, and how they support safer environments for children and young people.
• Child Safe Standards videos – A short explainer video for each Child Safe Standard.