Media Release
For immediate release 2/5/2008
ChildSafe – an exciting new harm prevention program launched in NZ
ChildSafe, a comprehensive safety management system designed to assist organisations providing programs for children and
young people, is now available in New Zealand. A series of launch events next week will focus attention on child safety
issues, and introduce ChildSafe.
Organisations face a range of challenges meeting community expectations for safety. Typically resources are tight, and
compliance with accepted standards for child protection and risk management is difficult to achieve. The ChildSafe
Safety Management System is already assisting many thousands of volunteers and staff across Australia, particularly
within the church sector.
CEO Dave Boldy comments: “ChildSafe brings together policy and practice across a spectrum of child safety issues:
protection of children from abuse or harm, high quality risk management processes for activities, and levels of
responsibility and accountability for people within an organisation. The focus should be on making sure the right people
are appointed to work with children, that they are offered appropriate training, and that organisations takes
responsibility for the safety of their programs. A particular feature of ChildSafe has been the development of a
web-based tool that enables organisations to address these issues.”
Sean Pawson, National Children’s Ministry Consultant, Baptist Churches of NZ, describes ChildSafe as “a superlative
tool”. “ChildSafe is one of the most comprehensive training and resource packages available in this field in New
Zealand,” he said.
ENDS