Our progress on creating a safer environment for children and young people at SSI

Most of the programs at SSI include children and young people, so it is critical that we take active steps to create a safe environment. As we enter National Child Protection Week, here’s a recap of the steps we’ve taken to create a culture of child safety at SSI over the past 12 months.

SSI has made an Organisational Commitment to Child Safety and is a pledged supporter of National Child Protection Week. Through this, we ensure children and young people’s safety and wellbeing is embedded in the everyday thinking and practice of everyone at SSI, whether they interact directly or indirectly with children and young people.

Over the last year, some of the updates in this space include:

• Appointing a child safe specialist to improve rigour and oversight of this space
• Creating a one-stop shop for child safety and wellbeing at SSI, including a resource library for all client-facing staff
• Highlighting the importance of families and children as a core client cohort in our new
• Conducting the annual child safe risk assessment
• Standardising event and activity risk assessments to include child safety risk checks
• Introducing a child-friendly complaint form to improve access
• Undertaking specialised training of case workers

Through these efforts and more, we are creating a child-safe organisation that puts the interests of children and young people first. In the year ahead, our focus will be on updating our Child Safety Roadmap and more. Through these continued efforts, we are working to ensure children and young people’s safety and wellbeing is embedded in the everyday thinking and practice of everyone at SSI.