National Child Protection Week 1 - 7 September 2019

From the 01 to 07 September 2019, it is National Child Protection Week. It's important as Educators will ensure will create a safe and nurturing environment for all children in our care.

The aim of the week is to engage members of the community in supporting families and protecting children.

In 2019 National Child Protection Week focus on introducing a ‘child development’ communication frame to promote the messages that:

• Kids do well when parents are supported
• To raise thriving kids, parents need support to navigate life’s choppy waters

This theme is based on evidence from the Frameworks Institute research commissioned by the Parenting Research Centre, which shows us the most effective way to talk about parenting and child wellbeing is with a ‘child development’ frame that:

• Focuses on children and what they need to thrive, rather than blaming or evaluating parenting
• Establishes the importance of interaction with parents and caregivers to child development, rather than assuming that young children simply grow
• Helps people see that circumstances shape options, rather than assuming that good parenting comes naturally to individuals
• Uses a ‘navigating waters’ metaphor where boats represent families/parenting, weather/hazards represents the circumstances that can affect us all, and lighthouses and safe harbours represent the support that we all need.
• Changing the way we communicate and engage with families can take time and consideration.

This is a whole new way of ‘framing’ the conversation about child well being and parenting, which will require a long term commitment from Australian organisations.

To get involved your service can:

• Talk to Educators about child wellbeing including how to be a child-safe organisation.
• Make sure Educators understand their role in being a mandatory reporter.
• Go through the Child Protection policy and make changes if needed.
• Add a display within the centre about what your service does for Child Protection

The following resource is designed to help you use the new research to communicate and engage parents:

Navigating Waters: Talking About Parenting – A FrameWorks Institute Toolkit

For more information: National Child Protection Week

Reference:
NAPCAN, Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect