In July 2026, The Child Protection Foundation opens entries for the National Childhood Protection Initiative — a free program inviting students across Australia to respond, in writing or artwork, to age-appropriate questions about personal safety, trusted adults, and knowing how to speak up.It's built to sit inside what schools already do. A class might spend one or two sessions on it; a whole school might take part, or a single year group. The prompts map to the protective-behaviours content already in the Health and Physical Education curriculum, so it adds a voice to existing work rather than another thing to the timetable.
The reasons are hard to look away from. In Australia, school staff are now the largest single source of child-protection notifications — ahead of police. More than three in five young Australians experience some form of maltreatment before they turn 18. Behind those figures are children who needed an adult to notice, and a moment where speaking up felt possible.This program is a small, practical part of changing that — not by asking children to relive anything, but by helping them recognise what safe feels like, who they can turn to, and that they have the right to be heard.
Students create a written or visual piece in response to prompts designed for their year level. Senior students (Years 10–12) can also enter collaborative and video categories, including AI-assisted work. No child is asked to write about their own experiences of harm — the themes are safety, trusted adults, and finding a voice.Prizes are awarded across every age group and state, along with a wellbeing grant of $200 to $1,000 for the schools of winning students. Prizes for students are given as vouchers, never cash.
The Foundation was deliberate about this: a child's identity never leaves their school. Students' names and consent forms stay on-site, entries are submitted under a tokenised anonymous code, and the work is judged without the Foundation ever knowing who created it. The program supports a school's existing safeguarding responsibilities — it doesn't replace or change them.
Registering takes a minute, and everything that a school needs: the teaching pack, prompts,
consent form and safeguarding guidance — is ready to download.
Entries close at the end of Term 4, 2026.
Judging takes place over January and February 2027, with winners and prizes announced in March.
The Child Protection Foundation Limited (ABN 93 126 767 299) is an Australian charity founded in 2007, registered with the ACNC and endorsed as a Deductible Gift Recipient. Its directors are volunteers.The Foundation is independent and non-partisan.
This article refers to child abuse. If you or someone you know needs support:
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