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The Child Safety Commissioner

The Office of the Child Safety Commissioner makes children a priority. The Commissioner provides advice to both the Minister for Community Services and the Minister for Children on issues impacting on the lives of children, in particular vulnerable children. This is achieved through listening to children, advocating on their behalf, being impartial, leading on child-safe practices, acting with integrity, and being held accountable.

Our core functions include:

	Promoting child-safe environments
	Monitor Victoria’s out of home care system and promote a quality service system and effective mechanisms to address the needs of Victoria’s most vulnerable children who are in the care of the state
	Conduct inquiries into the deaths of children known to the child protection service system and into matters that relate to current and past child protection clients as referred by the Minister for Community Services
	Reviewing the administration of the Working with Children Act 2005 and educating and informing the community about the Act
	Providing advice to the Minister for Community Services

What we're currently doing
	Attending BASPCAN April conference in Belfast on Keeping Children Safe in an Uncertain World
	Building a Community Integration Program that will aim to link children in out-of-home care to their local community
	Leading a working group on Safe Driveways
	Undertaking inquiries into a range of matters relevant to services provided to children, including out-of-home care
	Developing a resource for staff working with traumatised children in out-of-home care
	Collaborating on a range of cybersafety projects with agencies and services
	Undertaking a number of inquiries into the deaths of children known to child protection
Completed
Policy Development
	In collaboration with DHS completed a policy project to support an integrated response to homeless young people aged under 16 who are alone
Submissions
	Submission to the Child Protection Inquiry (pdf, 646kb)
	Australian Human Rights Commission: Protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, sex and/or gender identity (pdf, 39kb)
	Australian Human Rights Commission: African Australians (pdf, 40kb)
	Mental Health Act Review: Exposure draft of the Mental Health Bill submission (pdf, 61kb) Review of the Mental Health Act 1986 submission (pdf, 4.4mb) Because Mental Health Matters (pdf, 37kb)
	Joint Select Committee on Cyber Safety (pdf, 80kb)
	Law Reform Commission's Review of Child Protection Legislative Arrangements (pdf, 457kb)
	Joint Standing Committee on Immigration Inquiry into migration treatment of disability
	Homelessness 2020 Strategy
	National Human Rights Consultation (pdf, 32kb)
	Sentencing Advisory Council's discussion paper: Maximum penalities for sexual penetration with a child under 16
	Senate Inquiry into the sexualisation of children in the contemporary media environment (pdf, 244kb)
	Productivity Commission's Inquiry into Paid Maternity, Paternity and Parental Leave (pdf, 1.3mb)
	Australian Youth Forum: A new era in youth consultation (pdf, 152kb)
	Victorian Government's Vulnerable Youth Framework discussion paper
	Australian Government's Quality Standards & the Early Years Framework
	Victorian Government: Tobacco Control Strategy 2008-13
	Australian Government's paper - Australia's children: safe and well. A national framework for protecting Australia's children.
Evaluations
	The Empowering Young People Project (pdf, 244kb) - an evaluation of a school-based performance that explores issues relevant to personal safety and mutual respect