Child Safe Organisations Act 2024

The Child Safe Organisations system was recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2017.

The Child Safe Organisations Act 2024 (Qld) commenced on 1 October 2025.

The main purposes of this Act are:

• to protect children from harm; and
• to promote the safety, wellbeing and best interests of children.

Under the legislation, businesses and organisations that work with children or provide services or spaces for them are required to introduce 10 Child Safe Standards. Some organisation will be required to introduce a Reportable Conduct Scheme.

There are two elements:

• The Standards aim to create environments that prioritise the safety and wellbeing of children.
• The Reportable Conduct Scheme requires organisations to report and investigate allegations of child abuse or misconduct by their staff and volunteers.

Comprehensive information can be found on the Queensland Family & Child Commission website.

Are law firms “child safe organisations” under the Child Safe Organisations Act 2024?

The Act does not apply to every organisation that might come into contact with children. Instead, it targets a narrower group called “child safe entities”.

In plain terms, an organisation will usually be a child safe entity if it:

• provides services specifically for children, or runs facilities specifically for children; and
• falls within certain sectors listed in the legislation (or is later added by regulation).

What matters most is what the organisation does. Labels don’t help. Being a law firm, or a sole practice, does not, by itself, put an entity outside the Act.

That means individual practitioners and small firms can be covered if their legal services are genuinely child‑focused.

Why are law firms paying close attention?

One reason practitioners are looking closely at the Act is Schedule 1, which sets out the types of organisations captured.

The schedule spans a wide range of sectors, including education, health, disability, community services and justice.

Of particular interest to lawyers is Schedule 1, which covers justice or detention services. It includes:

“An entity that provides legal or other advocacy services, including, for example, a community legal centre or a provider of court support services.”

• Other child safe entities in Schedule 1 of the Act include:
• Accommodation or residential services
• Services for children with a disability
• Child protection services

When might a law firm be a child safe entity?

Based on the current wording of the Act, law practices are more likely to be captured where their services are directed specifically to children, rather than where children are only part of a broader legal dispute.

Examples that may fall within scope include:

• firms providing child protection or youth justice legal services;
• community legal centres delivering youth justice, child advocacy or other child‑focused services; and
• practitioners acting as independent children’s lawyers and separate representatives.

In these settings, the legal service is clearly being provided for children and aligns closely with the Act’s justice or community services categories.

Which firms are unlikely to be captured?

Most general legal practices are unlikely to become child safe entities simply because children are involved in their matters from time to time.

For example:

• family law practices acting for adult clients, even where children are the subject of proceedings;
• wills and estates matters involving minor beneficiaries; or
• criminal matters where a child is a victim or witness.

The Act does not suggest that incidental contact with children is enough. The threshold is higher: services must be specifically for children and sit within one of the relevant Schedule 1 categories.

What does this mean in practice?

Whether a law firm is a child safe entity under the Act will ultimately depend on:

• the nature and focus of its legal services;
• whether those services are directed specifically to children; and
• whether the services fall within a relevant Schedule 1 category, particularly justice or community services.

Entities that are captured by the Act must comply with the child safe standards and associated obligations, including governance, reporting and risk management requirements.

What happens next?

At this stage, there is no guidance issued specifically for the legal profession.

Law practices that regularly provide child-focused legal services may wish to consider their position carefully and contact the Queensland Family & Child Commission for further guidance. The Queensland Family & Child Commission have published a self-assessment tool for implementing the Universal Child Safe Standards in Queensland that might be useful for law firms to evaluate:

• how the Child Safe Standards and Universal Principle are currently being implemented
• where work is required
• the actions that need to be taken to plan for improving child safe practices.

The Queensland Law Society will continue to monitor how the legislation is implemented and provide further information to the profession as additional guidance becomes available.