Our Commitment
Personal Safety Australia is strongly committed to maximising the safety and enhancing the wellbeing of children. Children are the most vulnerable members of our community and need to be protected by adults. Children also need to be empowered with practical skills and strategies to effectively deal with any threat to their safety when trusted adults are not around.

People Safety Focus
We teach our children how to be safe in the water, in the sun and when riding their bicycles, yet we often fail to teach our children how to be safe with people. Sadly, one of the greatest threats to the safety of our children is abuse from a known person. In Australia a child is reported abused or neglected every 3 minutes¹. It is also conservatively estimated that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 7 boys will experience sexual abuse before their 18th birthday². As a result, while our children’s safety concepts and strategies apply to a broad range of situations, there is a focus on maximising children’s safety with people, in particular preventing and effectively responding to various forms of child abuse.

Why These Services Are Needed

• Child abuse is Australia’s most serious social problem. It is known to increase the risks of substance addiction, personal violence victimisation, homelessness, poor health, educational failure, poor employability, depression and suicide.¹
  
  Personal Safety Australia children’s safety strategies empower children with communication, problem-solving and networking skills to deal with any situation where they don’t feel safe, including physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Strategies are also provided to encourage children who are, or who have been, victims of abuse to disclose the abuse to a trusted adult to ensure the abuse is stopped and that they are given the necessary support.

• The vast majority (approximately 90%) of child abuse is perpetrated by a person known to the child.²
  
  Unlike other children’s safety programs, Personal Safety Australia children’s safety strategies are effective against offenders who are either known or not known to the child.

• Child sex offenders target children who appear vulnerable and less likely to object or put up a fight.³
  
  Personal Safety Australia children’s safety strategies empower children to recognise and exercise their right to safety and to take action and persist in taking action if they don’t feel safe.

• Sex offenders target children’s organisations.⁴ The vast majority of child sex offenders do NOT have criminal convictions for their abuse of children.⁴
  
  Child Suitability Cards (“Blue Cards”) often provide a false sense of security to children’s organisations. Personal Safety Australia recommends a range of effective strategies to minimise opportunities for sex offenders to gain access to, or offend within, your organisation. Such strategies include effective children’s safety policies, procedures and training for staff, volunteers and parents.

• It is the duty of the organisation to protect children from all reasonably foreseeable risk of injury.⁴
  
  Children’s organisations are compelled by legislation and common law to protect children in their care from harm caused by people, including staff, volunteers, parents and other children. Simple and cost-effective strategies can be implemented to ensure access to organisations by offenders are minimised and children are protected.

Why PSA Children’s Safety Services Are Designed for Adults
Personal Safety Australia children’s safety services are designed for parents, carers, teachers and other professionals working with children, rather than provided directly to children. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, by teaching adults we have the opportunity to reach a far greater number of children as it is anticipated that each adult will relay the safety concepts and strategies to a number of children.

Secondly, research reveals there is limited effectiveness in providing children’s safety information to children as a one-off session. Far greater effectiveness is achieved by providing training with regular follow-ups for reinforcement together with opportunities for children to practice skills. Parents, teachers and other trusted adults regularly interacting with children have far greater opportunities to provide such training and reinforcement.

Another significant indicator of child safety program success is the involvement of parents and teachers. In order to provide the training and reinforcement mentioned above, it is imperative for parents and teachers to be exposed to program information via formal training, awareness sessions or by familiarising themselves with resource materials.