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National Standards

National Standards

The National Catholic Safeguarding Standards (NCSS) create a framework for Catholic entities to promote the safety of children and adults at risk. They outline the policies and activities that will prevent, respond to, and support reporting of concerns regarding child abuse.

The 10 National Catholic Safeguarding Standards are taken directly from the final report Volume 6 of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. They incorporate the Royal Commission’s recommendations and also the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, contextualising these requirements for the Catholic Church in Australia.

The National Catholic Safeguarding Standards are available on ACSL’s website.

Committed leadership, governance and culture

Child safeguarding is embedded in the entity’s leadership, governance and culture.

Children are safe, informed and participate

Children are informed about their rights, participate in decisions affecting them and are taken seriously.

Partnering with families, carers and communities

Families, carers and communities are informed and involved in promoting child safeguarding.

Equity is promoted, and diversity is respected

Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice.

Robust human resource management

People working with children are suitable and supported to reflect child safeguarding values in practice.

Effective complaints management

Processes for raising concerns and complaints are responsive, understood, accessible and used by children, families, carers, communities and personnel.

Ongoing education and training

Personnel are equipped with knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children safe through information, ongoing education and training.

Safe physical and online environments

Physical and online environments promote safety and contain appropriate safeguards to minimise the opportunity for children to be harmed.

Continuous improvement

Entities regularly review and improve implementation of their systems for keeping children safe.

Policies and procedures support child safety

Policies and procedures document how the entity is safe for children.