Child safety in early childhood: information for families

Organisations that work with children must have policies and procedures to keep them safe. The Child Safe Standards outline these requirements.

Learn about the 11 Child Safe Standards are and how they are regulated.

The National Quality Framework (NQF) regulates most early childhood education and care services.

This includes:

• long day care
• standalone kindergarten services
• family day care
• outside school hours care
• vacation care.

The NQF includes laws that early childhood education and care services must follow and quality standards.

Find out more about the National Quality Framework.

Some services that offer care to children on a non-regular or ad hoc basis are regulated under Victorian law. This includes occasional care and limited hours services.

Find out more about children's services regulated under state law.

The Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (VECRA) is the independent regulator for early childhood education and care.

VECRA ensures that early childhood services are delivering safe and high-quality education and care.

Find out more about VECRA and the regulatory schemes it enforces.

Also, see Regulation of early childhood services: information for parents and carers.

A child safe service will:

• always put children’s safety, rights and best interests first
• actively identify and manage child safety risks
• understand and apply child safety laws and requirements
• have rules and practices for keeping children safe, both in physical and online environments
• have clear processes for making a complaint and encourage families to raise any concerns
• have a culturally safe environment that respects and values diverse backgrounds
• respond appropriately to disclosures and suspicions of harm, and use trauma-informed practices
• consider the individual needs of each child and give them the care and support they need
• talk to children about their rights and how they can raise concerns with adults
• teach children about body safety in an age-appropriate way
• embed a commitment to child safety throughout the service
• involve families and local communities to create a child safe culture.

A child safe service will answer questions about:

• their child safety policies, procedures or Code of Conduct
• whether all staff have valid Working with Children Checks
• what their educator to child ratios are
• how to raise concerns with the service
• their quality rating.

Early childhood services are rated on the 7 quality areas in the National Quality Standard.

The quality areas are:

• educational program and practice
• children’s health and safety
• physical environment
• staffing arrangements
• relationships with children
• partnerships with families and communities
• leadership and governance.

You can talk to a service about their quality ratings or see them online at the Starting Blocks website. (opens in a new window)

The Starting Blocks website has information about all early childhood education and care services in Australia. You can see the quality ratings and compliance history of a service. Enforcement actions from the past 2 years will be listed.

Information about quality and compliance must also be shown at the service entrance.

Find out more about the assessment and quality rating process.

To learn about the different types of early childhood services, see Choosing an early childhood service.

• Talk to the service director/manager or nominated supervisor.
• If you are unsure of who to talk to, the name and contact details of the person who handles complaints must be at the service entrance.
• Ask to see the service’s complaints policy and procedures.

• Make a complaint or escalate your complaint with the provider that operates the service. For example, this might be the company that owns a childcare service, or the local council that runs a kinder.

• Make a complaint to VECRA - call 1300 307 415 or submit an online complaint. Make a report anonymously if you would prefer.
• If you need an interpreter, call 131 450 and ask them to call 1300 307 415.
• You can contact VECRA at any time, or as a next step if you are unhappy about the way that a service or provider has handled your complaint.

In 2025, the Rapid Child Safety Review made 22 recommendations to improve child safety in early childhood services in Victoria. All of the recommendations were accepted by the Victorian Government.

Learn more about the review and the Government’s response at Rapid Child Safety Review.

Actions to strengthen child safety in early childhood settings include:

• introducing new laws to improve the safety, quality and accountability of early childhood services
• establishing a new independent regulator. The Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (VECRA) began on 1 January 2026. VECRA is growing the number of Authorised Officers and taking strong action against services that do the wrong thing
• creating a national register for early childhood workers. The register allows regulatory authorities, including VECRA, to see who is working in the sector and where. It helps monitor, identify and respond to risks about early childhood staff
• strengthening staff screening by improving the Working with Children Check scheme
• supporting the workforce and volunteers with child protection and child safety training and resources
• improving transparency for families by providing better access to information on service quality and compliance
• limiting the use of digital devices. Personal digital devices cannot be used in early childhood services (with some exceptions). Services must have a policy and procedures for the taking, use, storage and destruction of images and videos of children. Services must also seek your permission to take images and videos of your child.