Our commitment to child safety
Children are part of our world at St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria every day.
They visit our shops with their families. They sit at the dinner table in the new home our teams helped secure. They learn from our tutoring volunteers about finding confidence. They smile in our Soup Van lines after receiving food to take to school the next day. They're present - often quietly - in the lives of every family we walk alongside.
That presence is a profound responsibility, and one we take seriously. Each interaction matters.
We believe in the inherent dignity and worth of every person. For us, child safety isn't a compliance obligation, it's an expression of who we are and what we believe. Every child has the right to be safe, to be heard, and to be treated with respect in every interaction with our organisation.
We commit, unequivocally, to zero tolerance for any behaviour or practice that harms children. We commit to building and sustaining a culture with best practice processes across all of the Society where children's safety and wellbeing come first.
This means having clear, practical processes, protocols so that every staff member, volunteer, and member knows their role in keeping children safe and has access to the mechanisms to effectively respond if needed to. It means listening to children and their families. It means acting on concerns, promptly, appropriately, and with care. And it means holding ourselves to the highest national standards, including the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, the Victorian Child Safe Standards, and the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards.
We are especially attentive to children who carry the greatest vulnerability - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children with disabilities, and children from families who have experienced disadvantage, trauma, or marginalisation. Our mission has always been to reach the most forgotten. In child safety, that commitment is no different.
This commitment is not a document. It is a living practice- shaped by our people, reviewed and strengthened over time, and grounded in our enduring belief and mission to serve others with love, respect, justice, hope, and joy; to shape a more just and compassionate society.
We invite anyone with concerns about child safety in our organisation to speak up. No child should ever feel alone, and no concern should ever go unheard.
