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The volunteer evidence checklist
What a child safe organisation should be able to produce on request — and how long it would take you today.
Screening, induction and supervision are the parts of the child safe standards that live inside your volunteer program. Most organisations are already doing all three. The hard part is proving it on a Tuesday afternoon when a board member, a funder or a regulator asks — because the evidence is usually spread across a spreadsheet, an inbox, a filing cabinet and somebody's memory.
Answer honestly: how long would each one take you today, with the systems you actually have. The pattern across the twelve is more useful than any single answer.
Your details — optional, and only used to label your PDF
Answer the twelve questions below and a readiness score will appear here. It is a self-assessment prompt, not a compliance rating — no regulator recognises this number.
The twelve
Notes — what we'll do about it
The same requirement, four sets of words
Every Australian framework traces back to the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. Principle 5 — people working with children and young people are suitable and supported — is the one this checklist covers. Each state words it differently and enforces it through a different regulator, but what you have to be able to produce is substantially the same.
| Where | What it is called | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| National | National Principles for Child Safe Organisations — Principle 5 | The common ancestor of every state scheme. Meet Principle 5 in substance and you are close in every jurisdiction. |
| Victoria | Child Safe Standards — Standard 6, suitable staff and volunteers | Mandatory since 1 July 2022. Eleven standards. Oversight sits with the Commission for Children and Young People, and with the VRQA for school providers. |
| New South Wales | Child Safe Standards — Standard 5, people working with children are suitable and supported | Ten standards under the Child Safe Scheme, overseen by the Office of the Children's Guardian. Explicitly more than just a Working with Children Check. |
| Queensland | Child Safe Organisations Act 2024 — ten Child Safe Standards, plus a universal principle on the cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children | Commencing in phases from 1 October 2025 — disability services for children first, health services from 1 January 2026, other sectors on their own dates. Check yours with the QFCC. A Blue Card is part of screening, never sufficient on its own. |
What good looks like
- One register, not four. Every check for every volunteer in a single place, with expiry dates that are read by something rather than remembered by someone.
- Expiry that chases you. A check that lapses without anybody being told is the most common finding in this whole area, and it is entirely preventable.
- Induction tracked per role and per person, with dates. "Everyone did the induction" is a claim; a dated per-person record is evidence.
- Supervision that leaves a record. A wellbeing conversation nobody wrote down did not happen, as far as any review is concerned — and the volunteer gets no benefit from it either.
- Continuity when people leave. Concerns, checks and supervision relationships should survive the departure of whoever was holding them.
- A record of who looked at what. Emergency contacts and health information should be hard to open, and should leave a trace when they are.
This checklist is a practical prompt, not legal advice, and it does not cover every obligation in any scheme. The score is a self-assessment aid with no regulatory standing. Requirements and commencement dates change — confirm yours with your own regulator: the Commission for Children and Young People (Vic), the Office of the Children's Guardian (NSW), or the Queensland Family and Child Commission (Qld). Nothing you type here is sent anywhere or stored — it stays in your browser until you close the page. Prepared by The Good Crew, August 2026. Free to copy and share.