Legislation & policy

page content: CY&F Act | CW&S Act | Child Safe Policy | Whistleblower

Children, Youth and Families Act 2005

The Children, Youth and Families Act (“the Children’s Act ”) was passed by Parliament in late 2005. The provisions of the new Act came into effect on 23 April 2007.

The new Children’s Act will consolidates and replaces the Children and Young Persons Act 1989 and Community Services Act 1970. This means that one Act now guides both secondary services delivering early interventions and Child Protection functions.

More detail on the provisions and implementation of the new Children’s Act can be found at 'every child every chance'.

The Children’s Act exists within the overarching framework provided by the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act, along with other relevant pieces of legislation.

The Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005

“The Child Wellbeing and Safety Act provides a critical legislative foundation for government and non-government services to work together to better support families and to promote children's health, development, learning, wellbeing and safety. The Act embeds this commitment across both the state and local governments and amongst the entire child, youth and family service system.”
Minister for Children, Second Reading Speech 6 October 2005

Enacted on 1 June 2006, the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act creates an overarching legislative framework designed to encourage and support a shared commitment towards children. It does this by:

• Articulating a set of principles designed to guide the provision of services to children.
• Establishing the Victorian Children’s Council to provide the Premier and the Minister for Children with expert independent advice about policy for Victorian children.
• Establishing the Children’s Services Co-ordination Board to further cross-government collaboration to achieve positive outcomes for children, particularly the most vulnerable.
• Providing the legislative functions and powers of the Child Safety Commissioner.

The functions of the Child Safety Commissioner are:

• To provide advice and recommendations to the Minister about child safety issues.
• To promote child-friendly and child-safe practices in the Victorian community.
• To educate and inform the community about the Working with Children Act 2005 and to annually review the way in which the Act is administered by the Department of Justice.
• To promote the active participation of children in out of home care in decisions that affect them and to advise the Minister and the Secretary on the performance of out of home care services as well as to undertake investigations when requested to do so by the Minister.
• To conduct inquiries into and report on the deaths of children known to child protection.

OCSC Child Safety Policy

The Office of the Child Safety Commissioner's (OCSC) child safety policy demonstrates our commitment to protecting the safety and wellbeing of the children with whom we have contact. It includes a statement of principles as well as a code of conduct for our staff.

Office of the Child Safety Commissioner - Child Safety Policy - June 2007 (120Kb, pdf)

OCSC Whistleblowers Policy

The Office of the Child Safety Commissioner (OCSC) is committed to the aims and objectives of the Whistleblowers Protection Act 2001.

The attached Whistleblower procedures are available to all employees of the OCSC and members of the public.

Office of the Child Safety Commissioner - Whistleblower procedures - Sept 2006 (1.72mb, pdf)