Winner announced!
We are pleased to share the results of our first-ever National Child Protection Week Awards!
We would like to thank everyone that entered – every single entry impressed us. Thank you for taking the time to share your wonderful work with us.
We are thrilled to announce that the winner of the CAPS National Child Protection Week Award is Settlement Services International!
SSI has won for Covid-19 and Me, a booklet designed to help vulnerable children to process and celebrate their experiences during the current pandemic. Congratulations SSI!
Other finalists that we would like to showcase are:
- Young Achievers Early Learning Centre for their “No! Go, Tell” musical production
- The Y for their “Stay Safe, Tell Someone”program
- Cumberland City Council for their impressive child protection framework
Learn more about these projects below.
Featured Projects
We are thrilled to announce that Settlement Services International (SSI) is the very first CAPS National Child Protection Week Award Winner! Congratulations!
SSI developed a resource called “Covid-19 and Me,” a booklet aimed at helping children and young people to process and celebrate their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The booklet includes a variety of activities and prompts to help children make sense of this extraordinary time. Different versions of the story for children of a variety of cultures and faiths are also available.
The CAPS team felt that this project stood out for the crucial need that it addressed, its creativity, and the positive impact it has had and will continue to have for vulnerable children during the ongoing pandemic. We also feel that this booklet could be beneficial for multicultural children everywhere and encourage SSI to promote its usage as widely as possible. You can read the booklet here.
We would like to recognise Young Achievers Early Learning Centre as a finalist for their child led initiative. Educators at the centre worked with children to promote the “No! Go, Tell” safety rule to other kids through a musical production featuring their favourite storybook characters.
CAPS was thrilled to see the impact that our Safe Children, Safe Families (SCSF) program has had on the community at Young Achievers ELC. You can watch their fun and engaging performance here.
We would also like to recognise The Y (YMCA) as a finalist for their program called “Stay Safe, Tell Someone”. It was created in response to the Royal Commission’s finding that it takes a survivor of child sexual abuse on average 23.9 years to disclose. After conducting research with 517 children and young people across Australia, The Y created a program that empowers children to tell someone if they are feeling unsafe.
The CAPS team particularly appreciated the research and youth engagement work that went into this project. The finished program represents a strong approach to reaching youth across all cultures, highlighted by the use of artwork created by a young First Nations artist.
CAPS also commends finalist Cumberland City Council for their impressive resource development work. Cumberland City Council identified areas for improvement within their child protection allegations framework and took steps to ensure that their processes support and protect children as much as possible. They created an improved system which includes a designated triage team, a detailed documentation form, and a flowchart outlining the response process for a variety of scenarios.
CAPS was particularly impressed with the initiative shown by Cumberland City Council to undertake this project. They recognised the need for stronger processes and worked efficiently to create a compassionate and comprehensive solution. We hope that other councils will follow their lead and do everything possible to keep our most vulnerable safe!
A Message from our CEO
Hello there,
While this year continues to bring with it many new challenges, we at CAPS have seen some wonderful examples of innovation and adaptability across the child protection sector.
This year’s National Child Protection Week (5-11 September) theme is “Every child in every community needs a fair go”. In order for this to happen, kids, families and communities need access to the high quality information and resources that will help them to thrive.
As part of the celebrations, CAPS is looking across the country to highlight the new and creative ways that organisations are promoting child protection and advocating for the rights of our most vulnerable.
Applications for the inaugural CAPS Child Protection Week Awards are now open until 27 August. Winners will be announced on 9 September.
We are encouraging organisations to celebrate how they are including child safety in their day to day practice. This could be through resource development, programming ideas, advertising campaigns, staff development or child-focused policy reviews.
The more we share and continue this conversation, the more our children, families and communities will benefit.
Enter now to showcase your organisation’s great work and win wonderful prizes!
Reegan Barber
CEO, CAPS
Categories
Prizes
First Prize:
We will deliver your choice of either our Safe Children, Safe Families program or a CAPS child protection training workshop at your organisation.
Submissions are free, and all applicants will receive a CAPS child protection resource kit!
