Child Safe Practices: Making sure your sport knows how to keep kids safe

Keeping children and young people safe in sport should be the top priority for all clubs, but inconsistent rules and definitions around child safety can make it challenging for clubs to tackle it on their own.

One of Sport Integrity Australia’s key roles so far has been working to support sports to implement consistent child safeguarding policies across all levels of all sports in Australia, so children and young people have the same protections, no matter which sport they participate in.

It is expected that all National Sporting Organisations and National Sporting Organisations for People with Disability will have the same policy standards, as well as a list of ‘Child Safe Practices’ (or equivalent) which explain how children should be treated in sport.

The Child Safe Practices outline best practice when it comes to things like transporting children, photographing children, appropriate discipline, overnight stays and travel arrangements.

To help sports, Sport Integrity Australia has developed an easy to read “Child Safe Practices: Dos and Don’ts” booklet which translate the child safeguarding policy into easy actions that clubs, coaches and volunteers can take to protect children participating in sport.

Courtesy of Sport Integrity Australia, the booklet has been added in full after the last page of this issue.