Building a safety team
Information and activities about building and being a part of a child or young person’s safety team, created in partnership with the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.
A ‘safety team’ or ‘safety network’ is a group of adults chosen by a child or young person to help keep them safe. The adults are people the child or young person can go to when they feel worried, scared or unsafe.
Bruce Morcombe OAM and Denise Morcombe OAM, Founders of the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, explain more about who can be part of a safety team and the important role adults play in having conversations about child sexual abuse.
Read the transcript
I'm Denise Morcombe, and this is Bruce Morcombe.
Almost two decades ago, we founded the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.
If we are to reduce child sexual abuse,
it is important parents and carers play an active role.
A safety team is a group of five adults
that surround the safety of a particular child.
It's important to have a mix of adults within the safety team
that the youngster can turn to and ask for help, some from the home, of course mum,
their auntie, whoever, but importantly include adults away from home
like the school teacher, school principal, their friends’s mum and dad, and of course
the police and the kids helpline are excellent options to include as well.
We need to start talking to our children one talk at a time.
We have resources on childsafety.gov.au
Or you can go to danielmorcombe.com.au
Parents, you need to talk to your children
by adults having conversations about child sexual abuse,
we share the responsibility and we break the silence.
How to build a safety team
Building a safety team can be simple and fun. This page includes 2 safety team activities that can be printed out and completed by kids of all ages. Younger children can be guided through the activity with a parent, carer, educator or other adult in their life. Older children may be able to guide themselves through the activity in their own time.
We have also developed a resource for adults to use, which includes suggestions of services who can provide help and support.
What it means to be part of a child or young person’s safety team
The adults that form part of a child or young person’s safety team may be referred to as ‘safety helpers’, ‘safe people’ or ‘trusted adults’. Being selected as a safety helper is an important role as children and young people may come to you if they feel worried, scared or unsafe, and need help or advice. Safety helpers should always listen to, believe and support the children and young people in their lives.
Our Being a safety helper resource has more information and guidance about being part of a child or young person’s safety team.
Sharing the safety team resources
You can view all the safety team resources in our Building a safety team stakeholder toolkit. This document can be shared with your friends, family and network to encourage them to use the resources with children and young people in their lives.
You can use the images below to make posts on your social media accounts to encourage your networks to read about and use the safety team resources.
Other helpful resources
You can learn more about child sexual abuse on our website. Our website also contains resources to support adults to have conversations with children and young people, including the Having conversations toolkit and Speak up and make a complaint resources.
The Daniel Morcombe Foundation website has a range of useful resources. These include:
- My safety network activity and How to be a Safety Helper fact sheet
- Child Safety Chatterbox
- Recognise my body clues
- Australia's Biggest Child Safety Lesson 2023
- That's Suss: eSafety Challenge
- Conversation Cards
- Challenges and Choices.
Visit Keeping Kids Safe Resources for all resources from the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.