Straight answers
Frequently asked questions
The questions parents, young people, support coordinators and councils actually ask us. If your question is not here, ask SOL or email us and we will answer it plainly.
Safety
Is Ciaralink Projects safe for my teenager? +
Yes, and safety is the product rather than a policy page. The platform carries the safety burden, not your family. Nothing involving a young person goes live until a real human being has approved it. No adult can privately message a young person, because every conversation sits inside an approved job and is visible to the guardian. Money earned by a young person under 18 goes to their parent or guardian, never to the child. Ciaralink Projects is built to meet Australia's child safety standards, including eSafety Safety by Design and Victoria's Child Safe Standards.
Can a stranger or an adult message my child directly? +
No. There are no open stranger direct messages anywhere on Ciaralink Projects. Contact only happens inside an approved job or enquiry. Any conversation involving a person under 18 is automatically supervised and visible to their parent or guardian, and it cannot be turned off or hidden. This is enforced in the code itself, not by a moderation policy.
Who checks what my child posts before it goes public? +
A human does. Our AI guide, SOL, can screen and flag a listing, but SOL cannot approve anything. A responsible person reviews and signs off every listing involving a young person before it becomes public. The system re-checks guardian consent and the safety rules on the server at the moment of approval, so an unsafe listing cannot be published even if the request is tampered with.
Can I pause my child's account if I am worried? +
Yes, in one tap. Every parent and guardian gets an oversight dashboard showing their child's activity, earnings, permissions and supervised messages. A single Pause switch takes your child's live listings offline immediately. You can also grant or withdraw individual permissions at any time, such as whether they can sell, join a project, or be photographed.
Identity and privacy
Do you store my ID or my child's ID? +
No. The safest identity data is the identity data we never hold. Ciaralink Projects never stores identity documents, card numbers or bank numbers. Identity and payment checks are delegated to accredited providers such as Stripe Identity and Stripe Connect, the Australian Business Register, and the Victorian Working With Children Check. We keep only a status, a yes or a no, plus an opaque token that means nothing on its own. Age assurance validates age only, and sensitive inputs are destroyed once they have been used.
Does my child need my permission to take part? +
Yes. A person under 18 cannot sell, take payment, join a project, be photographed or receive messages until their parent or guardian has given explicit, scoped consent. Consent is granted per activity, not as one blanket approval, and you can withdraw any of it at any time.
Money
How does a young person actually get paid? +
Through their guardian. If the creator is under 18, the money is paid into the verified account of their parent or guardian, never to the child directly. The guardian must complete identity verification with an accredited provider before any money can be received. This is the same rule that makes verification meaningful: getting paid means getting verified.
What does it cost to use Ciaralink Projects? +
Joining is free, and it is free to start as a creator. We charge a 5 percent platform fee, and only when a creator actually makes a sale. If a young person does not earn, we do not earn either. Growing creators and organisations can choose low monthly plans, and part of the platform income is reinvested locally through a Support Fund that pays for equipment, transport and scholarships for creators who cannot afford them.
Is Ciaralink Projects the young person's employer? +
No. Creators on Ciaralink Projects are independent, supported by family, a mentor or an organisation. They are never employees of Ciaralink Projects. The platform connects them with their local community and records what they achieve. It does not employ them.
Disability and the NDIS
Can NDIS participants use Ciaralink Projects? +
Yes. Inclusion is the reason the platform exists. Only about one in five NDIS participants aged 15 to 24 are in employment, and Ciaralink Projects exists to turn local participation into real experience, evidence and first earnings. Community projects are designed so that all abilities can take part, and the whole platform is explained in an Easy Read version.
Does using it affect an NDIS plan or funding? +
Ciaralink Projects is not an NDIS service and does not bill an NDIS plan for platform access. NDIS costs stay separate and transparent. Where a participant uses funded support to help run a micro business, that support is billed and described honestly by the provider delivering it, and it is never blended into a platform fee. This fits the NDIS Micro Enterprise pathway, where a participant can use funded support to run their own small business.
Can a support coordinator or school refer a young person? +
Yes. Schools, youth services and NDIS support coordinators can refer a young person through the referral page. The referrer starts it, but the parent or guardian is the one who gives consent, and a human still approves anything before it goes live. The referrer cannot consent on a family's behalf.
How it works
Which suburbs is Ciaralink Projects in? +
The founding pilot is Made in Kensington 3031, in Melbourne, Victoria. The inner north west network opens around it, starting with Flemington, North Melbourne and Ascot Vale, then Moonee Ponds, Braybrook, Maribyrnong and Footscray. We are deliberately proving the model in one suburb properly rather than launching everywhere at once. You can join the waitlist for your suburb.
What is the Passport? +
The Passport is a verifiable record of what a young person has actually done. Every completed project, skill, volunteer hour, endorsement and badge is recorded as it happens. Over time it becomes worth more than a resume, because it is evidence rather than a claim. For a young person who has never had a job, it is often the first real proof of capability they can show anyone.
What kinds of things can a young person do? +
Real, ordinary, local things. In the Kensington pilot that includes baking and selling cupcake boxes, patient computer and tech help, a wheelie bin cleaning round, photography, and gardening and lawn care. Alongside the marketplace there are supported community projects to join, such as a community cafe team, a local stories media team, a community garden and market stall, and an inclusive events crew.
Still have a question? Ask SOL, our guide, or email us and a person will answer you.
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