Child safety

Child safety and the TAC

The TAC is committed to being a child safe organisation, prioritising the safety and wellbeing of children and young people across TAC services and programs.

This page is for children, young people, their families, and the wider community who interact with the TAC. It explains how we help keep children and young people safe and what to do if you have any concerns about child safety and wellbeing.

Children and young people's right to safety

All children have rights, no matter who you are. This includes the right to be safe and feel safe and to have your say in decisions impacting you.

Being safe means you are free from abuse, harassment, discrimination or inappropriate behaviour. Feeling safe means you are comfortable in the places where you spend time and trust the adults around you.

You have a right to:

  • be safe and feel safe wherever you are
  • expect that the adults around you are keeping you safe
  • be given information about how to raise a safety concern
  • be listened to and for action to be taken if you have a safety concern.

Supporting children and young people

  • Our policies tell our staff members how they should behave when they work with children and young people. They also outline what kind of behaviour is not okay.
  • We have processes in place so TAC staff know what to do if they learn about a child safety problem. Our processes make sure we investigate and follow up any concerns.
  • We spend time training and educating our teams so they know how to support child safety and wellbeing.

Our commitment to child safety

All children and young people have the right to be safe.

It's up to everyone to make sure children and young people are safe. We have a zero-tolerance approach to child abuse and neglect.

We have systems to protect children and young people from abuse and neglect. If someone tells us about a concern for a child's safety, we will follow our policies and procedures and respond.

At the TAC we promote:

  • the safety of children and young people with a disability
  • the cultural safety of:
    • Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander children, and
    • children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Cultural safety means we will respect a person's family beliefs and traditions.

We will support children and young people to talk about what is important to them. We will listen to what they need.

We will talk to children and young people in ways that help them join in discussions about decisions that affect them.

How to report child safety concerns

We encourage you to tell us about any concerns you have about child safety and wellbeing, including any harm or abuse related to TAC support and services.

For immediate concerns and to report abuse, harm or neglect, contact the police and/or Child Protection on 1300 655 795 (after hours 13 12 78)

To report a child safety concern related to the TAC:

To report a concern about a service provider the TAC pays for:

  • Call 1800 931 233 - 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Your call can be anonymous. If you need to leave a message, we will contact you within one business day.
  • Email saferservices@tac.vic.gov.au. We will reply within one business day.

Additional resources

Victoria's Commission for Children and Young People provides information in a number of languages. Access its Translated resources about the Child Safe Standards.