Supporting Staff - NSW Commission for Children and Young People

Staff, volunteers and students make a valuable contribution to the success of an organisation and to the lives of the children and young people they work with.

Staff and volunteers who are actively supported and understand their roles and responsibilities are more enthusiastic about creating and maintaining a child-safe and child-friendly organisation.

Encouraging an organisation's culture to be open, aware and inclusive is often as easy as following a few simple steps:

explaining your Child-Safe and Child-Friendly Policy and Code of Conduct to new staff, volunteers and students
monitoring and supervising their progress throughout their time with the organisation
maintaining an interactive and supportive relationship that responds to any concerns
providing opportunities for them to give honest and thoughtful feedback on ways of improving services and activities

When staff, volunteers and students are supported, jobs get done well, teams are motivated, people know they can ask for advice, problems are identified and conflicts resolved quickly.

For more advice or guidance on supporting staff, volunteers and students, follow the links below.

Child Safety Contact PersonAppointing a Child Safety Contact Person (as outlined in the resources in the Policies and Codes of Conduct section) to respond to concerns about the safety and well-being of kids in an organisation is another important part of supporting staff and volunteers.

A Child Safety Contact Person can:

provide advice and support to staff, volunteers and students about appropriate behaviour, a child's safety or their welfare
help staff, volunteers and students with complaints
provide kids with someone to turn to when they need help