Building community confidence in child safety

The project reached 153 parents and carers across Melbourne’s west. Participants received practical information and tools to support conversations with children about body safety, recognise grooming behaviours, respond to concerns and identify where to seek help.

The project was developed by GenWest and Body Safety Australia in consultation with trusted community leaders. It drew on multilingual community educators and community knowledge to make difficult conversations safer, more accessible and more relevant to participating communities.

The project was established in response to reports of an ongoing police investigation into alleged child sexual abuse across childcare centres, including centres in Melbourne’s west. It aimed to provide affected families and communities with timely, practical and culturally responsive information and support.

As part of the project, GenWest and Body Safety Australia created four practical resources for parents and carers:

• Protecting Our Children: a guide containing simple language and scripts parents and carers can use to talk with young children about body parts, safe and unsafe feelings, boundaries, secrets and trusted adults
• I’m Worried About My Child: a guide to recognising possible warning signs, understanding grooming, responding to disclosures and identifying where to seek help
• Safe at Early Childhood Education and Care: a guide to understanding children’s safety in childcare, recognising safe practices, asking questions and raising concerns
• Body-safety conversation cards: providing short prompts for conversations about body parts, safe and unsafe feelings, secrets and surprises, and safe adults

The resources were informed by community consultation and made available in English, Amharic, Arabic, Dari, Hindi, Karen, Punjabi and Vietnamese.

The project also delivered Community Education Sessions to build participants’ confidence to talk with children about body safety, respond to concerns and seek help if they were worried about abuse or suspected abuse.

Participants reported:

• 94% felt more confident seeking help if they were worried about a child
• 92% felt more confident talking with their child about body safety and respect
• 91% felt more confident helping a child who feels unsafe
• 93% said the education was relevant to their family, culture or community

These findings demonstrate the value of delivering sensitive child safety education in ways that reflect the languages, cultures and experiences of the communities being reached.

The project also identified strong unmet demand for this kind of education, with interest in further sessions exceeding what the project could deliver. GenWest is calling for sustained investment to expand the program and make culturally responsive child safety education available to more families and communities.

Parents and carers have an important role in children’s safety, but they cannot carry that responsibility alone. Keeping children safe is a shared responsibility across adults, organisations, services and systems. Children are never responsible for preventing abuse or for being able to disclose it.

When parents and carers receive practical information in ways that are trusted and culturally relevant, they are better equipped to have body-safety conversations, recognise concerns, respond supportively and seek help. Organisations and systems must support them by creating safe environments, maintaining appropriate boundaries, noticing concerns and acting when concerns are raised.

The project was funded by the Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.

It was supported by an Advisory Group bringing together expertise from government, community health, sexual assault, family violence and child-safety services. Advisory Group organisations included cohealth, IPC Health, McAuley, Safety After Sexual Harm, North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network and Body Safety Australia.

WestCASA provided counsellor support at the Community Education Sessions.