The sexual behaviour in children and young people procedure and guideline give educators and care providers resources and guidance to respond to developmentally appropriate, concerning and harmful sexual behaviour in children and young people.

Who can use the procedure and guideline

The procedure and guideline are for educators and care providers in the government, Catholic and independent education and care sectors.

The procedure and guidelines apply to:

• family day care services
• long day care services and rural care program
• out of school hours care services
• preschools and early learning centres
• respite care program
• schools
• education or care services provided by third party providers.

Procedure and guideline

You can view the procedure, procedure appendices and guideline as 3 separate documents, or combined into 1 document.

Procedure and appendices

The procedure outlines the immediate and necessary actions you need to follow when responding to sexual behaviour.

Sexual behaviour in children and young people procedure (PDF 528 KB)

The appendices give you the resources to carry out the actions in the procedure.

Sexual behaviour in children and young people procedure appendices (PDF 864 KB)

Guideline

The guideline has additional information, best practice considerations and resources to support medium to longer term responses.

Sexual behaviour in children and young people guideline (PDF 1 MB)

Procedure, appendices and guideline – combined

Download the procedure, procedure appendices and guideline as 1 document.

Sexual behaviour in children and young people procedure and guideline (PDF 1 MB)

Resources to support the procedure and  guideline

Refer to the procedure and guideline for how and when to use these resources.

Flowcharts and checklists

• Procedure flowchart – overview of required steps (PDF 46 KB)
• Sexual offence flowchart – student allegedly responsible for harm (PDF 60 KB)
• Sexual offence flowchart – harmed student (PDF 48 KB)
• Response checklist – developmentally appropriate sexual behaviour (PDF 135 KB)
• Response checklist – concerning or harmful sexual behaviour (PDF 182 KB)

Templates and supporting resources

• Behaviour support plan (DOCX 62 KB) for children or young people who have engaged in concerning or harmful sexual behaviour.
• Support and safety plan (DOCX 62 KB) for children or young people affected by the concerning or harmful sexual behaviour of others.
• Sample letter to parents (DOCX 58 KB) of children or young people  not  directly involved in or witness to sexual behaviour.
• Sexual behaviour record (DOCX 60 KB) for you to document sexual behaviour incidents.
• Signs of Safety® harm analysis matrix (DOCX 59 KB) to help you assess and monitor risk over time and inform the behaviour support plan.
• Signs of healthy sexual behaviour assessment and planning framework (DOCX 63 KB) to inform the behaviour support plan and monitor progress towards safer behaviour.
• Information sharing agreement (DOCX 59 KB) for sharing confidential information related to sexual behaviour.

For ancillary staff and volunteers

• Sexual behaviour in children and young people fact sheet for ancillary staff and volunteers (PDF 130 KB) gives basic information to understand and respond to sexual behaviour.

For students and parents

• Sexual behaviour in children and young people – information for parents and carers
• Unwanted sexual behaviour and sexual harassment information for students
• ‘Sexual behaviour in children and young people – information for parents and carers’ is a hard copy brochure that has been provided to public education and care sites. It tells parents and carers how public education and care settings respond to children and young people’s sexual behaviour.