This week the Y will celebrate 30 years of National Child Protection Week with a roll-out of the first ever child safety models co-designed by children and young people across a country.
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The Y, which operates in more than 600 locations around Australia, is demonstrating its continued commitment as a leader in ensuring children and young people are safe through its Stay Safe, Tell Someone program.
Locally, the Y operates from the Great Lakes Aquatic and Leisure Centre in Lake Street, Forster.
The program is the first to be developed through the eyes and voices of more than 500 Australian children in aged 3-18 who participated in face-to-face consultations and surveys.
Great Lakes Aquatic and Leisure Centre cluster manager Melissa Morgan, said every child had the right to be safe and feel safe.
"The Y is taking a leading role in child protection by rolling out messages that are informed by children and young people," she said.
"It's exciting to see that these resources will build on our strong commitment to ensuring we have a meaningful child-safe and child-friendly environment at the Great Lakes Aquatic and Leisure Centre."
The Y's Safeguarding Children and Young People National Executive, Phil Doorgachurn said Stay Safe, Tell Someone encouraged children to speak up.
"We commenced this program with Delroy Consulting in early 2019 and the message from the consultations and surveys was clear - if you see something, hear something or feel something that makes you feel unsafe or worried, you should tell someone.
"We had children and young people participate from 17 different locations across five states and territories, including the remote communities Coolgardie, Leonora, Menzies and Williamstown in WA.
"The children and young people told us that the best way for them to learn about safety and to raise concerns is through direct communication with a trusted adult and that we should keep information simple using images and words."
The 2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found that on average it takes a survivor 23.9 years to disclose their abuse and Mr Doorgachurn said that was simply unacceptable.
"That's clearly intolerable and it's why we have been driven to develop these resources that can be easily understood by children and young people, easily adapted for different communities and languages and easily delivered in a variety of settings from schools to sports fields through to youth clubs."
During National Child Protection Week, which ends on Saturday, September 12, the Y is supporting the 2020 theme of Putting Children First by piloting the program, using a training package, videos, posters and merchandise, through its 14 member associations and plans to make the resources more broadly available to other child-facing organisations in the future.
The children and young people told us that the best way for them to learn about safety and to raise concerns is through direct communication with a trusted adult and that we should keep information simple using images and words.
- Phil Doorgachurn
"The Y is a leading child safe organisation and is determined to take a leadership role in the cultural shift towards child protection measures that are informed by children and young people."
Child Safe Organisations, National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) national manager, Sammy Bruderer says that children feel safer when adults care about them, value their opinions, pay attention and are responsive when they raise concerns.
"It's so important that we all value the voices of children and young people, and work alongside them to create meaningful child safe and friendly environments," she said.
"Children perceive and experience safety differently to adults. Their wellbeing is just too important for us to be making guesses about their feelings of safety and what they need.
"When we involve children in matters that affect them, as the Y has done, we end up with better outcomes for everyone - the children, the organisation and the broader community.
"National Child Protection Week is all about the ways that we can all play a part in keeping children safe. Listening to children and responding to their views and concerns is something we can all do every day."
The training package was endorsed by seven-year-old Katia from Sydney, who said the Stay Safe, Tell Someone poster was visually appealing and easy to understand.
"This poster means that if someone is in trouble - if they see it, hear it or feel it, you go ask a teacher, a parent, any adult you can trust," she said.
The training package is targeted at four audiences: children (up to six years), children (7-11 years), young people (12 -18 years) and adults.
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