Child & Youth Protection Training Online in December

The Australia Mission Centre will be providing a 90-minute Child and Youth Protection Training session via Zoom on Thursday 3rd December at 8pm AEDT.

The session has been arranged for those who need to complete the training before Tiona Reunion, and all members are welcome to join. It’s also an opportunity for senior IYF participants to complete the training ahead of IYF 2027.

The training is required for congregation leaders, staff, priesthood members and anyone serving in ministries with children and youth, even if they’ve completed similar training with other organisations. We encourage all members to take part and help create safe spaces for children and young people.

If you need to complete this training, please contact Kass Unger at (0450 015 277) or kunger@cofchrist.com.au.

Child and Youth Protection Training

Facilitator · Kass Unger
Date · Thursday 3 December 2026
Time · 8:30 pm AEDT (Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney)
Zoom Link · https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81219701569
Meeting ID · 812 1970 1569

Child & Youth Worker Registration Process

To work with children in Community of Christ, you need to be a registered child and youth worker. There are a number of steps in this process that are outlined below as well as a little of the timeline as some may be working with a deadline. The steps don’t have to be completed in this order, but there are some steps that will be held up by others:

  1. Application form and declaration. This needs to be signed before a justice of the peace, so it can take a little longer than expected to complete. The originals must also be posted to Kass Unger at 12 Taylor St West Pennant Hills NSW 2125

  2. Two references. These need to be completed by someone you have known for more than a year who is over 18 and is not related to you. These can either be collected and sent to Kass, or sent directly from the referees.

  3. Complete the child and youth protection training discussed above. It takes about 90 minutes

  4. Complete an interview with Kass. This mostly covers your experience (aka what experience do you have and what would be your strengths with children and youth) or to do with the training (what are some of the prevention strategies we put in place to reduce opportunities for child abuse to take place). It normally takes less than 5 minutes. This can be scheduled anytime after the training has been completed.

  5. Working with children check/blue card/ teacher exemptions. Each state has its own process for a government child safety check. Some of you might already have this. I need a copy of it (or your details) so that we can verify it at our end. If you don’t have it, it is about 15 minutes online and a trip to verify your documentation. This is a step that you can get started on right away.

    • In NSW, that is Service NSW. For volunteers, it is free. If you need, Kass can send the appropriate link for your area to get this started.

    • For those residing in Victoria, there is now a compulsory course as part of obtaining a WWCC. This is conducted online through a series of reading, videos and questions. This needs to be completed through the VicService website and they will direct you there before you will be able to apply or renew your WWCC. It can take up to an hour. 

    6. The last couple of steps are all backend and can’t be started until the first five steps are completed. They can take a couple of weeks, as it passes through a couple of sets of hands from leadership withing Australia and recording in Headquarters in the USA.