Safeguarding children ‘falls on everyone’

Protecting children from abuse and neglect is not solely the responsibility of Child, Youth and Family and the police, according to the Safeguarding Children Initiative.

Willow Duffy, a founding member of the organisation, said it had stressed a focus on early intervention since its genesis as three nurses and a detective in 2011.

Safeguarding Children Initiative (SCI) has provided free face-toface training for 5000 people across the Top of the South on who to contact and how to intervene when a child is in danger.

Duffy said the uptake among the community proved the region had ‘‘taken on board the need to protect children’’.

‘‘To have 5000 sets of eyes looking out and protecting children is just incredible.’’

An additional 1000 people nationwide have completed similar training through SCI’s e-learning course which launched last year. Both training modules help professionals who work with children - educators, healthcare providers and recreation groups - and the general public to pick up on ‘‘warning signs’’ that a child might be vulnerable.

‘‘Quite often there’s a journey that families travel before they get to the point where it’s child protection.’’