Changes to Child Safety Plan timeframes

At its October 2023 meeting, the General Church Board agreed to make some important changes to Child Safety Standards (CSS) submission timelines.

The next round of Child Safety Plans will now be due in 2025.

‘We have made this change because we understand that you and your congregations need time and space to implement your Child Safety Plans’, said Mary-Ann Carver, LCA Child Protection Project Officer. ‘We want to give you every opportunity to put your agreed child safety actions into place during 2024 without the pressure of meeting submission deadlines.’

The change will also allow the CSS support team to focus more on supporting congregation leaders as they work towards achieving their child-safety goals, including the development of quality resources to assist them.

‘We will focus on providing you with tips for implementation, ideas for communications, and examples from other congregations’, Mary-Ann said.

‘We are looking forward to 2024. It will be the time for child safety consolidation and development, a time to embed the concept of child-safe congregations, and a time to strengthen the very good foundations we have already built.’

More CSS resources will be released over the coming months and will be uploaded to the CSS webpage www.lca.org.au/css

More information

• Your district Professional Standards Officer (details here)
• Nicole Hall or Mary-Ann Carver from the Churchwide Child Safety Team: email css@lca.org.au or phone Nicole on 08 8267 7372 or 0491 011 643 or Mary-Ann on 0490 281 727