Lesson 8: Getting Started

Before you begin there are a few things you will need to do to set yourselves up for success. Learn about the key elements you need at the start in becoming a Child Safe Sport.

Child Safe Working Group / Committee

You need a working group of appropriate people from your sport and stakeholders to follow the process. This includes a key contact as the point of communication between the working group and other stakeholders. It is recommended this working group has regular communication with your sport’s leadership to ensure their input, feedback and endorsement.

Senior Leadership

To ensure your sport successfully becomes a Child Safe Sport it is essential that this comes from the top down. Support and input from the key leaders in your sport are key ingredients for success.

Stakeholders

The stakeholders throughout your sport will ensure the changes you make are relevant and effective. Input from stakeholder’s such as state bodies, participants, volunteers and staff, is essential to ensure any changes to policies and procedures take into account all important aspects of your sport. Stakeholder communication and engagement is also key to ensure that changes are enacted sport wide.

Partners

The good thing for you is that you are not alone. For a start, the ASC has partnered with the ACF to provide you with this toolkit. Also, some sports have already started their own journey becoming more child safe. One of the key messages from these sports is that collaboration with other sports is a valuable resource.

Plan

Making changes to your sport’s policies and procedures is not a small thing. To make sure you complete the process effectively you will need to plan, who will do what, and when. This will make your journey much easier.