Child Safety Lawyer
Australian Organisational Child Protection & Safeguarding Experts
We help organisations in Australia protect the wellbeing of children and young people in their care, with our specialised legal expertise and supportive practices.
Dedicated Child Safety Lawyers
Safeguarding Law Firm
Policy & Audit Specialists
Organisational Child Safety Lawyers & Child Protection Specialists
Child protection and safeguarding have evolved to address growing concerns and insight into child safety and safeguarding.
Partnering with a law firm specialising in these areas means you receive comprehensive support, from legal advice to representation.
Unlike safeguarding services alone, our highly experienced child safety lawyers offer meticulous legal advice, support, and documentation—and the ability to represent your organisation in enforcement action and court if necessary.
Your Free Consultation
We invite you to contact Safe Space Legal to book a free 30-minute consultation to discuss your orgainsation's safeguarding needs
24/7 Support Line
What Sets Safe Space Legal Apart?
As organisational child protection specialists, partnering with Safe Space Legal means you have access to a specialised law firm focused on child safeguarding and protection.
We are the only law firm in Australia that works exclusively in safeguarding services.
This ensures that your organisation has comprehensive support, expert guidance, legally sound advice, and tailored representation for your organisation if needed.
We also work collaboratively with internal safeguarding teams and external law firms to ensure organisations are best practice leaders in child safety.
Safeguarding (often termed ‘child safety’ or ‘child protection’ in Australia) is our primary practice area. We ensure organisations protect children’s safety and wellbeing through proactive measures including policy development, training, and meticulous risk assessment.
We also support organisations to comply with their legal obligations and respond to concerns through investigations and representation in enforcement action.
Our unique approach integrates legal and child safety expertise with a deep commitment to organisational development, empowering organisations to foster safe environments and meet compliance standards effectively.
What We Do
We are lawyers, and we help organisations protect the wellbeing of children and young people in their care with safeguarding services.
We will help your organisation ensure that Child Safe Standards are met and exceeded. We believe in holistically creating a culture of safety that is reflected at every level of an organisation, from core governance policies to daily operational processes.
We can help you with:
- Legal Compliance and Documentation
- Child Safety and Safeguarding Policies and Procedures
- Specialist Investigations including under the Reportable Conduct Scheme
- Representation in Organisational Child Safety Matters
- Emergency Legal Advice and Support
- Training and Capacity Building
Who We Work With
- Schools and educational institutions
- Childcare centres and early childhood services
- Youth organisations and clubs
- Sporting associations
- Community groups and NGOs
- Religious institutions
- Healthcare provider
- Disability Service Providers
What We Don't Do
We believe that focusing our work at an organisational level allows us to effectively create change, which will flow into matters on individual and family levels. We provide advice to organisations on matters that affect child safety and wellbeing within the organisation including child protection, family law orders, complying with subpoenas, privacy, information requests and family violence. However, we don’t work directly with individuals in these matters.
Individuals will require the support of:
- A family lawyer for matters involving parenting or family property disputes
- A child protection lawyer for matters involving children at risk of harm or where child protection is intervening.
- A youth justice lawyer for matters involving the justice system or,
- A criminal or family lawyer who specialises in family violence.
We do not work with family violence matters or individual cases with Child Protection Services. Instead, we work with organisations in these areas to help improve standards and outcomes to create long-term positive change that is aligned with the best interests of children.
If you are an individual who would like a referral to any of the above types of lawyers, please contact us.
Case Studies
Explore our brief Case Studies below with various industries and how we helped.
We were contacted by a Local Council to re-draft their child safety suite of documents and identify any recommendations to improve compliance with the Child Safe Standards and best practice. We drafted a new Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy, Reporting Procedure and Child Safety Code of Conduct. We also identified and drafted a number of other policies and procedures in relation to recruitment, complaints processes and information sharing to ensure the Council addressed any gaps which could be implemented across the organisation. We tailored the documents to the client’s ethos and practices and provided advice to ensure that the client was properly complying with legislation and making child safety paramount.
A parent contacted an Early Learning Centre to report that their child had disclosed that an Educator had engaged in serious sexual abuse against their child over an extended period of time. We provided support to the client to ensure they understood the Reportable Conduct Scheme and that they properly reported the concerns to the Regulator and other authorities as required. We then conducted a thorough independent investigation of the concerns and drafted a comprehensive report where we made findings which were accepted by the Regulator and relied upon in subsequent legal action. Throughout the investigation we sought and relied upon information from external agencies and organisations and liaised with Police and government regulators throughout the investigation.
We were contacted by a Higher Education provider to conduct training with their Board on Child Safety. We tailored a training program and provided in-person training to the Board where we highlighted major child safety risks and how the Board ensure best practice to reduce those risks. We upskilled the Board to be more aware of child safety in their roles and their duty of care and other legal obligations in relation to children and young people. We provided the Board with practical recommendations to better address risks in the organisation and to create and model a child safe culture.
Our Area Of Expertise
Legal Consultation & Support
Crisis Management
Representation & Advocacy
Compliance & Audits
Investigations
Training & Capacity Building
Policies
Implementation
Compliance Audits
Meet Our Child Safety Lawyers
Our team comprises highly experienced child safety lawyers dedicated to safeguarding children and young people. We work closely with your organisation to understand your organisation’s needs and tailor our services to provide the best possible support.
We welcome you to contact us to discuss your organisation's safeguarding needs
If your organisation is seeking expert legal guidance and support in child safety and safeguarding matters, contact us today to discuss how we can help create a safer environment for children and vulnerable individuals.
Contact us
Free Consultation
Frequently Asked Questions
To start with, we do both. Our team delivers comprehensive Safeguarding services, and also are dedicated specialist lawyers in this field. This means that we can provide exceptional legal support across all child safety and safeguarding matters. We are meticulous with our legal documentation and can provide advice, representation, and litigation if a matter results in enforcement action with the regulator. This allows us to work with our clients every step of the way, rather than referring over to a lawyer or safeguarding service, which is common practice in Australian industry.
Our lawyers have trained extensively to receive their legal qualifications, have extensive experience working in child protection and child safety, have also undergone additional training and certifications in investigations, child interviewing, social work, disability and trauma informed practices. Often our services will be protected by legal professional privilege, allowing our clients to receive comprehensive legal advice so that they can make informed decisions. We conduct thorough investigations, and we understand the rigour required to ensure that our reports withstand regulatory and judicial scrutiny, should they be relied upon in subsequent court proceedings.
The benefits for our clients are knowing that no matter what situation or stage they require help with, whether it’s staff training or representation in enforcement action, we can deliver this for them. This saves time and money while also ensuring unparalleled services and support, at all stages of their organisational journey.
- Specialised Expertise: Our team of child safety and safeguarding lawyers has extensive experience working with organisations to enhance their child safety and wellbeing frameworks.
- Tailored Solutions: We understand the unique challenges faced by organisations working with children and young people and provide customised solutions to meet their specific needs.
- Commitment to Excellence: We are dedicated to promoting the highest child safety and safeguarding standards and helping organisations achieve and maintain compliance with relevant regulations and standards.
To get started working with our team, please call us today on 03 91247321 or get in touch via our contact form.
In Australia, child protection services investigate and manage child abuse and neglect cases on behalf of the government. Child protection lawyers represent the government or individuals in legal proceedings related to child protection. Family lawyers work with individuals in relation to parenting and property settlements.
Child safety lawyers focus on ensuring children’s overall safety and wellbeing within organisations and ensuring that organisations comply with their legal obligations to prevent, comply with, and respond to child abuse and harm. Child Safety lawyers may also provide advice to organisations on issues like family law and child protection.
- Child Safety Lawyers (Safeguarding Specialists): Focus on organisational-level child safety, providing legal advice, compliance, investigations, policy drafting, training and legal representation.
- Organisational Safeguarding Services: Provide practical support and training but they are not able to practice as lawyers and therefore are not able to provide legal advice or representation.
Child Protection and Family Lawyers: Typically handle individual child protection cases and do not focus on systemic organisational change.
Yes, and it’s crucial to seek legal advice as soon as possible in such scenarios to mitigate further risk to a child and risk to the organisation. Our team is available 24/7 to provide urgent support and guidance.
Absolutely. Our team of experienced child safety lawyers offer ongoing advisory services to ensure your organisation maintains high child safety and legal compliance standards.
Yes, we can review, audit and update your current policies to ensure they meet all legal requirements and best practice in child safeguarding. We are also able to assist new or restructuring organisations with creating draft policies that are compliant with relevant Child Safe Standards, the National Principles and state legislation.
We offer comprehensive legal representation and support for regulatory enforcement action involving non-compliance with the Child Safe Standards and Reportable Conduct Scheme and other legal action related to safeguarding, ensuring your organisation is well-prepared and effectively represented.
Safeguarding encompasses measures in Australia to protect the health, wellbeing, and human rights of children and vulnerable people. For clarity and guidance, explore the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children and resources on child-safe practices.
Safeguarding children means creating an environment where children and young people are protected from harm and their rights are upheld. This includes implementing robust policies, complying with legal obligations, providing training, responding properly to critical incidents and ensuring that all staff and volunteers understand their roles to keep children and young people safe from harm.
We handle all child safeguarding matters and we also work with safeguarding in the Disability and Aged Care sectors, ensuring compliance with relevant legislation and providing comprehensive legal support for all safeguarding concerns.
Yes, we collaborate and provide services to various government bodies and state-run organisations, including Child Safety Services, the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH), and other relevant agencies. We aim to support these entities in enhancing their child safety frameworks,practices and conduct independent investigations.
- Our Services
- Final Report recommendations – Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
- History of the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children – DSS
- How To Keep Children Safe – AIFS
- Child Safeguarding Framework – Home Affairs
- Governance ToolKit – Safeguarding Vulnerable People – ACNC