Happy New Year to all our providers! We hope 2023 brings great things for you and the young people you work with.
We’ve started our year with a focus on training and resources, and we’re looking forward to sharing more of these with you as the year progresses.
The online Child Safe Self-Assessment is now available
The online Child Safe Self-Assessment (CSSA) has now been released and is available on the OCG website.
It has been great to see the number of new and existing providers using the interim CSSA on Microsoft Forms, and some new and existing providers already starting to use the full online CSSA.
The Microsoft Forms version will remain open for a little longer, but we encourage all providers to begin using the full CSSA. Completing the full CSSA will generate a personalised report and action plan, which will be a valuable tool for your organisation to use when reflecting on how your organisation is implementing the Child Safe Standards.
As a reminder, under the new SSRC Code of Practice, existing providers have until 1 March 2023 to complete the self-assessment.
Upcoming webinars
We held our first interactive webinar in December on risk management, with nearly 70 people attending. We hope those who attended found that the webinar was helpful for them with their day-to-day risk management processes. Moving into 2023, we are planning for more webinar sessions, including another risk management session and training for new SSRC providers.
SSRC – Developing a Child Safe risk management plan
Thursday 16 February 2023, 10am-12pm AEDT
Effective risk management helps leaders of child-related organisations improve their child-safe practices.
The 10 Child Safe Standards and SSRC Code of Practice require providers to identify and mitigate risks to children. This means that risk management planning for children in overnight placements is not only a good idea, but a requirement.
This webinar will help you develop your risk management strategies using two risk resources developed by the OCG in a session tailored for SSRC providers. Register now to attend the webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
SSRC overview for new co-ordinators and providers
Wednesday 1 March 2023, 2-4pm AEDT
This introductory session provides an overview of Specialised Substitute Residential Care (SSRC) for providers and their staff. While it’s designed for those who are completely new to SSRC, it’s a great refresher for any provider and covers the key requirements, including:
- What SSRC is and what is not included
- Organisational obligations, including the 10 Child Safe Standards and SSRC Code of Practice
- Day to day obligations, including the SSRC Register
- The OCG’s monitoring framework
Register now to attend the webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. This webinar will soon be listed on the OCG events page, but can be accessed by the link above now.
Training and resources survey results
In October we released our training and resources survey, and we’ve received replies indicating the topics that SSRC providers are most interested in receiving training and additional resources on. We continue to value your feedback on the training and resources you might find helpful, so please reach out to us with suggestions at any time.
Your responses show that organisations are interested in training and resources across a wide range of areas, but most are interested in the various policy and procedure requirements in the new SSRC Code of Practice, particularly around risk management.
In addition to training and resources tailored for SSRC providers, the OCG provides a range of broader training and resources that may be useful for SSRC providers including:
- Regular Introduction to the Child Safe Standards training sessions, both online and in person. Upcoming training sessions are available on the OCG website.
- Handbooks on Risk management and the Child Safe Standards: Part 1: Responding to risk and Part 2: Identifying risk.
- Recordings of past webinars, including our previous Overview of the changes from voluntary out-of-home care to specialised substitute residential care webinar
Compliance measures come into effect from 1 February
As part of the new SSRC system, the OCG has a range of monitoring and compliance powers which from 1 February 2023 will fall under s8U of the Children’s Guardian Act. As part of the SSRC Monitoring Framework and under s8U, the OCG’s focus is on capability building and assisting providers to understand and meet their obligations.
The OCG undertakes desktop reviews of SSRC provider’s policies, statements and procedures as required under the SSRC Code of Practice and the broader Child Safe Scheme and may undertake site visits with providers. Information about our monitoring and compliance approach can be found on the our website.
Contact us
If you have any further questions or suggestions for additional resources and training, you can reach out to us via email at ssrc@ocg.nsw.gov.au or by phone on (02) 8219 3798. We aim to respond to all requests within 3 business days.
