What is Child Wise Accreditation?
Child Wise Accreditation is one of the programs we offer to organisations. Accreditation is only awarded to organisations that can demonstrate they meet the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, as well as additional Child Wise requirements which help us to determine how well the Principles are being implemented. Once awarded, it is a 3 year arrangement, but only if organisations continue to meet requirements. We stay in touch with organisations during this period and undertake a mid-point check to assess their progress and make recommendations for how they can continue to improve.
How is Accreditation determined?
In order to assess readiness for accreditation, we undertake a Child Safety Review of organisations which includes reviewing their policies and procedures, visiting sites where children and young people spend time, and talking to children, young people, parents, carers, staff, volunteers and leaders about child safety. We then make recommendations for improvement, and after these have been implemented organisations can be considered for accreditation.
What does Accreditation mean?
Child Wise Accreditation is a voluntary process. There is no government requirement for organisations to become accredited but some decide to do so as they want to demonstrate to children, young people, parents, carers, staff and volunteers that they take child safety seriously. Accreditation cannot guarantee that children and young people will be safe from harm all of the time when they spend time in organisations. It does, however, provide assurance that an organisation’s policies, processes, governance and culture are compliant with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, and that leaders demonstrate a commitment to continuously trying to make things safer for children and young people. It also means that there are processes for responding to child safety risks and minimising the potential for harm to occur.
Most importantly, Child Wise Accreditation aims to promote outstanding practice in the way that organisations listen and respond to the explicit and implicit voices of children and young people.
More information
Is your organisation Child Wise?
We offer Child Wise Accreditation to any organisation that works with children and can demonstrate that their policies, processes and culture are consistently child safe.
Read more
Benefits of Child Wise Accreditation for organisations
Child Wise is a sector leader, and as such our Accreditation will serve as credible, visible evidence of your organisation’s commitment to child safety.
Read more
Accreditation program modules
Unless otherwise indicated, the following modules are essential for Accreditation.
Read more