What is protection of children?

Protection of children in Australia is the set of laws, services, and conventions designed to keep children safe from harm, neglect, and exploitation. It is delivered primarily by state and territory child protection authorities, supported by federal law for matters that cross jurisdictions, and reinforced by mandatory reporting, Working With Children Checks, and the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.

Each state and territory has its own child protection framework. NSW operates the Department of Communities and Justice's child protection service, Victoria has Child Protection within the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Queensland the Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services, and equivalents in other states. Each authority investigates reports of suspected abuse or neglect and intervenes where children are at risk, with options ranging from family support services through to court-ordered removal in serious cases. About 47,000 Australian children were in out-of-home care in 2024.

Mandatory reporting laws require certain professionals (teachers, doctors, nurses, police, registered psychologists, registered child care workers, and others depending on the state) to report suspected abuse or neglect to the relevant child protection authority. Failure to report is a criminal offence in most states. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which ran from 2013 to 2017, expanded mandatory reporting to many religious and other institutional settings and abolished the seal of confession as a defence in some states.

Working With Children Checks are a separate national framework. Anyone working with children in any state must hold a current check, run by state government agencies (Service NSW, Working with Children Check Victoria, Blue Card Services in Queensland, and equivalents). The check screens national criminal history for offences relevant to child safety. The National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, adopted in 2018 following the Royal Commission, set ten principles for safeguarding children in any organisational setting and underpin the National Office for Child Safety. The National Redress Scheme, established in 2018, provides redress for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, with about 19,500 applications processed by 2024.