Kidsafe ACT is the leading local charity focused on child accident prevention. We exist to help to make the world safer for kids. Our belief is that Canberra should be the safest place in the country to be a child and to raise a child.
For a while now, the organisation has been focused on keeping its head above water. Unfortunately, Kidsafe ACT is on track to potentially close by 2025 due to funding constraints.
Every serious childhood accident - especially those that result in injury or death - creates a ripple impact of trauma. As Macquarie University experts have asserted, childhood injury is a ‘costly public health issue in Australia’, even though it’s ‘preventable’. Evidence shows that 97% of injury-related child hospitalisations are due to avoidable accidents. Reflecting the ripple effect on mental health, around half of parents suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following serious injury to their child.
Kidsafe ACT deserves and seeks recognition that it:
- Delivers a critical, life-saving public service to the ACT community;
- Offers decades of experience and a unique expertise;
- Contributes to the health and safety of Canberran children;
- Saves costs to the health system and prevents family trauma; and thus,
- Requires sufficient government funding to effectively operate.
As the Canberra Times noted, Kidsafe ACT is a ‘rite of passage’ for local parents. However, we don’t want that to mean ‘only for parents that can afford it’. We are of the fundamental belief that every child deserves a life of safety, good health and happiness.
By signing this community petition, you join our call for the ACT Government to provide adequate funding so that we can deliver the programs that will keep kids safe and alive - instead of in hospital or potentially dead.
Thank you for taking the time to support this community petition, and we look forward to working together to #KeepKidsafe so that we can Keep Kids Safe. Please encourage your friends and family to also sign the petition.
To consciously underfund Kidsafe ACT is to proactively put our children at risk and expose families and communities to unnecessary trauma and hardship.
Update 25 May: The ACT Health Minister has announced that Kidsafe ACT will receive a once-off boost of $59,000, along with other vital community services organisations. This is welcome, appreciated and received in good faith; however, the process to finalise a longer term and enhanced investment in child accident prevention will need to continue. Thank you for your ongoing support!
