Child Safety: Queensland

Queensland's Child Safe Organisations Act 2024 commenced on 1 October 2025 and is overseen by the Queensland Family and Child Commission, known as the QFCC. This lesson explains its two parts and when each began. Key points: the ten Child Safe Standards and the Universal Principle were phased in by sector, starting on 1 October 2025, with services for children with disability in the first group and the last sectors added on 1 April 2026. They cover registered and unregistered NDIS providers that provide services specifically for children. The Reportable Conduct Scheme started on 1 July 2026 and covers registered NDIS providers.

Section 9 of the Child Safe Organisations Act 2024 sets out ten Child Safe Standards, and section 11 adds the Universal Principle. This lesson explains each in plain language: leadership and culture, the voice of children, family and community, equity and diversity, suitable and supported people, child focused complaints, knowledge and skills, safe physical and online environments, continuous improvement and clear policies. Key points: organisations must apply the standards in a way that promotes and upholds the right to cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and you can bring every standard to life through everyday practice on a shift.

To protect children you first need to know what harm can look like. This lesson describes physical, sexual and emotional abuse, neglect and exposure to family violence, and the physical and behavioural signs that may point to harm. Key points: Queensland law describes harm as a detrimental effect of a significant nature on a child's wellbeing, caused by a single act or a pattern over time. Signs are clues, not proof, and a change from a child's usual behaviour is often the most important one. Children with disability face higher risk, so we watch closely and take every concern seriously.

Grooming is the deliberate process someone uses to gain trust and access so they can sexually abuse a child and avoid being caught. This lesson explains how grooming often unfolds, who it targets, including families and workplaces as well as the child, and the warning signs to watch for. Key points: grooming can happen in person or online, it often looks like kindness at first, and people who groom may work inside organisations like ours. You do not need proof to raise a concern. Report patterns of worrying behaviour early to your team leader.

A disclosure is when a child tells someone about harm. This lesson explains why disclosures are often partial, indirect or delayed, and how children with disability may tell through behaviour, drawings, communication aids or changes in routine. It then gives you a calm, trauma informed way to respond. Key points: stay calm and listen, let the child use their own words or communication method, reassure them that telling was the right thing to do, and never promise to keep a secret. Use only open prompts, do not investigate, make sure the child is safe now and call 000 if anyone is in immediate danger.

What you do in the hours after a disclosure matters as much as the conversation itself. This lesson covers the actions to take once the child is safe and how to keep good records. Key points: write down what the child said and did, in their own words, as soon as possible; tell your team leader or manager the same day; and work out together which reports are needed. Record facts, not opinions, and store notes only in our approved system, never on a personal device. Keep information confidential and look after your own wellbeing.

In Queensland, mandatory reporting is set out in the Child Protection Act 1999. This lesson explains who is a mandatory reporter and when the duty applies. Key points: section 13E names doctors, registered nurses, teachers, certain police officers, child advocates under the Public Guardian Act 2014 and early childhood education and care professionals. They must report a reasonable suspicion that a child has suffered, is suffering or is at unacceptable risk of suffering significant harm caused by physical or sexual abuse, and may not have a parent able and willing to protect them. Section 13F adds duties for children in care. Anyone may report a concern.

This lesson explains how to report a concern about a child to Child Safety in Queensland. Key points: call 000 if a child is in immediate danger. During business hours, Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm, contact the Regional Intake Service for your area. After hours and on weekends, phone the Child Safety After Hours Service Centre on 1800 177 135, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Professionals can also use the online reporting form, and the Child Protection Guide helps decide whether to report or refer. Have key information ready and tell your team leader.

Some concerns about a child are also crimes. This lesson explains when police must be involved. Key points: call 000 if anyone is in immediate danger, and use Policelink on 131 444 to report an offence that is not an emergency. Since 5 July 2021, section 229BC of the Criminal Code has required every adult in Queensland to tell police as soon as reasonably practicable if they believe on reasonable grounds that another adult has committed a child sexual offence against a child under 16 or a person with an impairment of the mind, unless they have a reasonable excuse.

Queensland's Reportable Conduct Scheme started on 1 July 2026 and is regulated by the QFCC. It covers concerns about the behaviour of workers towards children, including employees, volunteers, contractors, labour hire workers and students. This lesson explains the six types of reportable conduct, what you must do and what our organisation does next. Key points: report to the head of our organisation as soon as practicable, or to the QFCC if the concern is about the head. The head must notify the QFCC within 3 business days, give an interim or final report within 30 business days, and investigate. The scheme does not replace reporting to Child Safety or police.

In Queensland, the blue card is the Working with Children Check, administered by Blue Card Services. This lesson explains how it works alongside NDIS worker screening for disability workers. Key points: if your work includes providing disability services or NDIS supports to a child with disability, you need a blue card as well as an NDIS worker screening clearance, because one does not replace the other. You can apply for both together through Disability Worker Screening. Organisations follow no card, no link, no start. Blue cards are valid for 3 years and NDIS clearances for 5 years, unless cancelled or suspended.

This case study follows Priya, a support worker in Townsville, as she supports two children whose situations raise concerns about harm at home. You will decide what to do when a child discloses through a communication device and when a teenager describes sexual abuse by an adult. Key points: respond calmly and let the child communicate in their own way, record their exact words, tell your team leader the same day, use the Child Safety After Hours Service Centre when business hours have ended, and remember that every adult must tell police about a reasonable belief of a child sexual offence.

This case study brings the Reportable Conduct Scheme, blue cards and our policy together. You will decide what to do when a colleague messages a teenager privately, when a new worker has not yet been linked to our organisation, and what our organisation must do after a report. Key points: report concerns about any worker to the head of our organisation, or to the QFCC if the concern involves the head; never investigate yourself; no card, no link, no start applies to every new starter; and the head must notify the QFCC within 3 business days. The lesson ends with the course summary and the final assessment.