Child protection regulations for South Australia

Swim Schools in South Australia (SA) have obligations under SA’s Child Safe Environments Program. The program requires child-related organisations (including Swim Schools) to comply with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.

National Principles

In South Australia, the National Principles are regulated under the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017 (SA).Under the regulation, all organisations that develop child safe policies and procedures are required to align these policies and procedures with the National Principles. This includes all Swim Schools in SA.

Policies and procedures must address the following key areas:

Working with Children Check requirements through the Screening Unit of the Department of Human Services
Use of the language of ‘risk of harm’ instead of ‘abuse and neglect’ to reflect the lower threshold for mandatory reporting in South Australia
The process for making a mandatory report, for example to the Child Abuse Report Line (CARL) on 13 14 78.

Child Safe Environments Program

South Australia’s Child Safe Environments program currently requires organisations that deliver services or programs to children and young people (including Swim Schools) to:

Develop child safe policies and procedures
Lodge a child safe environments compliance statement with the Department of Human Services.

girl wearing swim cap and goggles holding a kick board out of the pool

Child Safe Environments Compliance Statement

Under the Child Safe Environments program, all organisations providing services to children and young people must lodge a compliance statement with the Department of Human Services. For more information, refer to Child Safe Environments Compliance Statement.