Australian Childhood Foundation Reviewed
We know that it takes more than great policies and procedures to keep children safe.
Child safety is at the heart of everything we do. We stand by strong policies, trusted procedures, and dedicated educators to support every child in our care. Our centres and services are independently reviewed by the Australian Childhood Foundation (ACF) and have earned ‘Excellence’ — the highest rating possible.
Our commitments
To ensure a child safe organisation, we commit to:
- Creating an environment for children and young people to be safe and to feel safe
- Using best practice standards in the recruitment, screening and employment of YMCA people
- Providing safe physical environments that when possible, are designed with children, young people, their families and YMCA people
- Regularly auditing our facilities and immediate surrounding environments to assess their safety
- Monitoring our online environments to ensure their safety
- Promoting, supporting and building positive relationships between children and young people, and other users accessing our facilities
- Ensuring user groups of our facilities comply with our Safeguarding Children and Young People (Child Safety) Policy
Our team
We are committed to providing a safe environment for all children and young people. We recruit, train and support our staff and volunteers to care for the children and young people in our programs and services. Our Safeguarding Children and Young People (Child Safety) Policy applies to every staff member and volunteer at the Y.
This means all employees and volunteers must;
- Maintain a valid Working With Children Check
- Complete a satisfactory police check
- Complete our ‘Child Safety’ training course
We ensure that our staff and volunteers take all reasonable steps to keep children and young people safe, and to promptly respond to any concern regarding the safety or development of children in our care.
As parents and guardians, your role has the most significant impact on your child’s development so we look forward to working together to help them reach their full potential. Our early learning educators have the qualifications, knowledge and skills to facilitate children’s learning. Find out more about early learning.
Y Safeguarding
Our commitment to the safety of children and young people is shared by all YMCA associations across Australia.
We have established Y Safeguarding to drive a collective approach across all states and territories.
This unit develops frameworks and strategies which are implemented by local teams in each association.
Visit the Y Australia website for more information on how to contact Y Safeguarding.
Report a concern
YMCA Victoria responds to all concerns about the safety of children and young people within our programs.
We strongly encourage you to submit a report if you have a child safety concern about our programs. For example, you may have witnessed a situation that put a child or young person at risk.
In the first instance, we ask you to raise your concern with your Centre Manager and Program Coordinator who will be able to provide immediate support.
If you would feel more comfortable contacting our local Child Safety Team, then please complete the form below.
A representative of this team will liaises with the relevant management team and provide a response.
If you have general feedback or questions about our programs, please submit this through our current families contact form.
Emergency situation
If you or someone you care about is in danger right now, please call 000 and ask for the Police.
If you are not sure if it is an emergency but would like to speak with the Police, please call the Police Assistance Line on 131 444.