The Department of Communities has announced that its Working with Children (WWC) Screening Unit has launched an advertising and awareness campaign to educate parents and increase the compliance of people in child-related work.
In a statement, the WWC Unit said a series of advertisements would also seek to educate people about their responsibilities under the Working with Children (Criminal Record Checking) Act 2004.
“The advertisement will run on digital advertising platforms such as Gumtree, Spotify, podcasts and more, targeting parents and caregivers, tutors and those who provide child-minding services,” the Unit said.
“The advertising will coincide with a proactive compliance program, where people advertising their services will be investigated to ensure they hold a valid WWC Check,” it said.
The Unit said the campaign continued recent work done to increase compliance and raise awareness of the need for organisations and individuals involved in child-related work to meet their legal obligations.
“The WWC Screening Unit recorded its biggest financial year recently, issuing 145,898 WWC Checks,” it said.
The Unit said the WWC Check was a compulsory screening strategy in Western Australia and the Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
“It aims to protect children by deterring people from applying to work with children where they have a relevant charge or conviction on their criminal record that indicates they may harm a child,” it said.
“It also detects new charges and convictions of those people who hold a current WWC Card and protects children by creating awareness that child safety is a whole-of-community responsibility,” the Unit said.
