Child Safety

Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) is committed to child safety and facilitating a child safe environment, where the word child refers to children and young people under the age of 18 years.

Through identifying risks early, and mitigating these risks, CYDA seeks to protect any child or young person associated with a CYDA activity.

CYDA has zero tolerance for child abuse and all forms of harm to children, and concerns or allegations are treated very seriously.

It is a shared and collective responsibility of all CYDA staff, students, volunteers, and contractors to prevent child harm or abuse. Every person connected to CYDA has a duty of care to children: child safety is everyone’s responsibility. 

Our organisational culture aims for all members of our community, including children and their parents or guardians, to feel confident and comfortable in discussing any allegations of child harm and abuse, or child safety concerns.

CYDA has a structured process for reporting and acting on concerns. When recruiting staff and volunteers, we have social and ethical, as well as legislative, obligations to uphold child safety through robust screening and induction. CYDA will always take all reasonable steps to employ skilled and suitable people for child-related duties, with a commitment to providing a safe, inclusive, and equitable environment for all.

CYDA is committed to facilitating training and education on child safety risks, to embed an inherent culture of protecting children.

CYDA embraces the role it plays in the lives of our young people. We support and respect the participation and empowerment of all children, and want children to feel safe and valued.

CYDA upholds an inclusive culture, and accordingly is committed to the cultural safety of Aboriginal children, the cultural safety of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and to providing a safe environment for children living with a disability.