Information for children and young people

All children have rights, no matter who you are.

In Victoria there are special rules (called laws) to make sure you are safe. 

You have the right to be safe and feel safe. Being safe means, no one should hurt you, treat you badly, or make you feel uncomfortable. Feeling safe means, you can trust the adults around you and feel happy in the places you go.

This page lets children and young people (people under 18 years old) find out what they need to know.

We have people who make sure that our staff members and volunteers keep you safe and are doing the right thing when they work with you.

Our contact details are at the bottom of this page. You can contact us if you are concerned about your safety.

We will follow up any worries you have about your safety or wellbeing, or if you tell us that you may have been hurt or abused by one of our staff or volunteers.

• We have policies tell our staff and volunteers how they should behave when they work with you. They also tell staff what behaviour is not okay.
• We teach our staff and volunteers about what to do if they learn about a child safety problem. If you tell us that a staff member hurt you, our processes make sure we follow up and investigate your concerns.
• We talk with and listen to you about our services. This helps us understand if they meet what you need. It also helps us know how we can do things better.
• We teach our staff and volunteers to look after your safety and wellbeing. We talk about respect and diversity, and how to work well with a lot of different people. We explain how trauma (bad things happening) impacts people, and how it can make some things harder.

Posters in our public offices remind you that you have the right to feel safe, and how to tell us if you don’t.

How adults should behave to keep children safe(PDF, 144KB)

The Mornington Peninsula Shire Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) looked at our Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy along with our Staff Code of Conduct and developed a youth friendly version. This poster explains their expectations (in their own words) of how our staff should behave when working with children and young people. We would like to thank the YAC for their hard work in developing this poster.

The Council’s Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy and Child Safe Code of Conduct say how we will make you safer, look after your wellbeing and help you feel more empowered at the Council.

The Child Safe Code of Conduct tells our staff and volunteers how to behave when they are working with you. It also lets you know what type of behaviour you can expect from us.

The Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy and the Child Safe Code of Conduct apply to all of our staff members and volunteers.

You can see them here:

• Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy(PDF, 141KB)
• Child Safe Code of Conduct(PDF, 86KB)

We are committed to your safety and wellbeing.

We will:

• treat you with respect and behave appropriately towards you
• protect you from harm or abuse
• respect you, welcome you and not make assumptions about you
• support you to speak up and talk about what is important to you, and listen when you do
• always listen, take you seriously and follow up if you speak up about harm or abuse (there are times when we must report harm or abuse to the Police or Child Protection)
• look out for risks to your safety and wellbeing and do what we can to reduce any risks
• learn about, respect and support your culture and cultural background
• support your connection with your family and community
• talk with and work together with you and your family
• understand the challenges you face and support you to participate in ways that work for you
• communicate with you in ways that help you to understand and to join in
• keep learning and improving how we work with you and we will do our best for you

Please contact our Child Safety Coordinator via post, phone or email.

Child Safety Coordinator
Mornington Peninsula Shire
Private Bag 1000
Rosebud, Victoria, 3939

Phone: 03 5950 3207
Email: childsafety@mornpen.vic.gov.au

We will listen to everything you tell us, and we will take you seriously and take appropriate action.

You can also tell the Commission for Children and Young People about your concerns directly, via phone, email, post or visiting its website:

Commission for Children and Young People
Level 16
150 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne, Victoria, 3000

Phone: 1300 782 978
Website: www.ccyp.vic.gov.au