There will be further updates made to EC PROTECT webpages to align to this revised guidance.
IDENTIFY: child abuse in the community, including grooming
As an early childhood staff member, you may be the only adult in a position to identify that a child you work with is experiencing abuse in the community.
It is important that you notice warning signs, speak up, and take action to keep children safe.
Child abuse includes:
physical abuse
emotional or psychological abuse
sexual abuse
child sexual exploitation
family violence
grooming
neglect
Any child can experience one or more forms of abuse at the same time.
Often, observing signs may be the only indication that a child is being abused. It is important that you can recognise these signs. There are signs to look out for in both children who are victim to abuse and the people who are committing abuse. See identify signs of child abuse in early childhood.
A child can meet many different adults in the community who could abuse them. Children are more likely to be abused by an adult they know and spend time with. Some examples include:
local sports or community club coaches or volunteers
neighbours
teachers of extra-curricular activities, such as dance or music
parents of other children
You can identify child abuse in many ways, including:
This may include seeing a concerning interaction or harmful incident, or inappropriate or boundary crossing behaviour. Grooming can be difficult to identify. It can look like ‘normal’ caring behaviour, such as providing special attention and emotional support to a child.
Some examples of grooming behaviours include:
regularly trying to spend one-on-one time with a specific child
offering to help outside normal duties or hours (like babysitting or transporting children home)
showing too much or unnecessary physical affection towards a child (such as encouraging hugging, tickling, or cuddling when it isn’t needed)
A disclosure is when someone shares information that suggests a child may be unsafe or has been abused. This can come from the child, or from someone who knows them.
Disclosures may be:
verbal or non-verbal
intentional or accidental
complete or partial
and be disclosed in stages over time
Disclosures are not always clear and may change over time.
Any disclosures or concerns should be taken seriously. For more information on how best to respond to disclosures, see strategies for managing a disclosure.
These could include:
injuries or signs of abuse that don’t have a clear explanation or don’t match the story given
sudden changes in behaviour (like becoming withdrawn, aggressive, or overly obedient)
becoming scared or avoiding certain adults
Often, changes in a child’s body or behaviour are the only signs that they are experiencing abuse. Detailed information on more physical and behavioural signs of abuse can be found here.
This may include distressing, sexualised or threatening content.
This could also include:
concerning messages
images, or
interactions, including signs of:
grooming
exploitation, or
harmful contact.
Online spaces are a common way abuse can begin or continue.
Tell service management, your nominated supervisor or approved provider
Tell your service manager / leader, designated child safety staff member, nominated supervisor or Approved Provider as soon as a concern, disclosure, or allegation is identified.
They can support you through the rest of the critical actions. If any of the above staff are the suspected perpetrators of abuse, do not contact them without explicit clearance from police.
Use Information Sharing and Child Link for additional information
You can also request information from other Information Sharing Entities (ISEs).
ISE’s include services that work with children, young people and families such as maternal and child health, Child Protection, The Orange Door and Victoria Police.
You should also use the Child and Family Violence Information Sharing Schemes (CISS and FVISS), and check Child Link.
This helps services to access relevant and up-to-date information to support the children in your care, especially if you have concerns about a child. Information sharing does not replace the 4 critical actions, but can help you to decide what to do next. For more information, see Use information sharing to improve your support under the Support section.
You only need to have enough information to form a reasonable belief of abuse to inform your next steps.
This means acting even when you’re not sure and have not directly witnessed the abuse (e.g. if another person tells you about the abuse).
If you form a reasonable belief of child abuse by someone in the community, continue to the 4 Critical Actions.
Start by making a report to Victoria Police, if you believe a crime against a child has been committed.
Continue the 4 Critical Actions
If you identify abuse by someone in the community, continue to report.
REPORT: respond to child abuse
Speak up! As an early childhood worker, you are central to keeping children safe. As soon as you believe a child has been or is at risk of being abused, you must act.
If you believe a child has been or is at risk of being abused by an adult (staff member, worker or volunteer) engaged with the service:
If you believe a crime by an adult against a child has been committed, you must make a report to Victoria Police. Emergency situations that require urgent police attendance must be reported to Victoria Police via 000.
Common crimes against children include physical and sexual assault or abuse, grooming, and threatening behaviour.
If a child has been or is at risk of significant harm or abuse, and their parents or carers have not or are unlikely to protect them from significant harm, call Child Protection and make a report as soon as possible.
You must report to Child Protection if the harm may be a result of:
Physical injury (mandatory report)
Sexual abuse (mandatory report)
You can report significant harm related to:
Emotional or intellectual development
Physical development or health
Experience of family violence
Abandonment or parental incapacity (when a parent is unable to care for a child)
Child Protection can assess the situation and risk; investigate; interview key people; intervene to protect the child; and support the family to keep the child safe.
Contact Child Protection (8:45am to 5pm, Monday to Friday)
You cannot make Child Protection reports via the DFFH website or email.
Approved Providers: You must notify VECRA:
Within 24 hours of a serious incident at an approved education or care service or a complaint alleging that a serious incident has occurred or is occurring while a child was or is being educated and cared for by an approved education and care service, or
Within 24 hours of becoming aware of reportable sexual misconduct, including sexual misconduct or a sexual offence, committed against, with or in the presence of a child by a person employed or engaged to perform work or provide services at an education and care service or a volunteer, whether or not it occurred at an education and care service.*
* This requirement is in effect from 12 August 2026.
If your service manager or approved provider does not notify VECRA about the concern, you can also make a complaint to VECRA (including anonymously).
Before contacting parents/ carers you need clearance from:
Victoria Police in situations involving a police response, or
Child Protection in situations where Child Protection has been notified.
Once you have clearance, you must contact parents/ carers as soon as possible (ideally on the same day). This is an important step. It helps parents or carers support their child in partnership with the service, authorities, and other support services.
Your primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of the child. Before engaging with parents and carers, consider whether it is safe to do so.
Do not contact the child or their family if it could be unsafe, put the child at risk, or put anyone else in danger. Do not contact them unless you have clear permission from Victoria Police or Child Protection.
Continue the 4 Critical Actions
After completing these steps to report, you must continue to support and refer. Check with Victoria Police and/or VECRA on when to take these steps.
SUPPORT: children through your service
Your service must support all children involved who are enrolled in your service.
This includes children who have experienced abuse, as well as other children who may be affected. For example, siblings or friends who know about the abuse or were impacted in other ways.
This is an essential part of your duty of care obligations.
Child abuse can significantly impact a child’s health, safety, and wellbeing and disrupt their lives and education.
You play a central role in ensuring children feel safe and supported at your service, and in meeting their individual wellbeing and educational needs.
In most cases, this will involve referring the child (and possibly their family) to community organisations and specialist support services. The following section, Refer, outlines these options in more detail.
Services should try to stay in touch with the child’s parent/carer to plan support and talk about how the child is going and whether the support is helping.
Educators (with support from service leadership) should determine the most appropriate strategies to use to support the child or children involved. This may be through discussion, reading books about body safety and role playing with puppets and/or dolls.
For some younger children, this could involve age-appropriate conversations about safety and wellbeing to understand what helps them feel safe and happy at their service, at home, and in their community.
When supporting a child, consider their individual needs and situation. Some children maybe at greater risk and may need extra care and support. Consider all the experiences and needs of the child and their parents or carers.
This includes supporting:
First Nations children
Children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
Children with disability
Children in out-of-home care
LGBTIQA+ or gender-diverse children and their families
Work with other staff (such as your manager) who have information sharing responsibilities.
They can share and request information with other ISEs under the CISS, keeping children safe and well by helping you to decide what to do next and what support to provide.
Child Link supports CISS to improve wellbeing and safety outcomes for children.
Child Link and CISS can help you to make decisions about the wellbeing, safety and support needs of a child in your service. This makes it easier to identify risks early and provide the right support.
Ask your manager which staff at your service have access to Child Link.
They can check information regarding the child’s participation in key early childhood and education services; key family relationships; and if the child or their sibling has a past or current child protection order.
Maternal and Child Health Service (MCH), is a free, local primary health service for families with children from birth to school age.
MCH works in partnership with families to support health and wellbeing. MCH can also help families to connect with other local community services.
Families can also call the MCH Line 24/7 for advice and support on 13 22 29.
Continue to support for as long as necessary
Keep supporting the child and continue to monitor the situation for as long as needed. Work with the child, their parents/ carers, and any relevant authorities (for example, Police) and specialist support services.
Continue the 4 Critical Actions
When providing support, also refer children to community services.
REFER: to community services
Your service can refer children and families to a range a specialist support services that are available in the community.
Refer compliments support. Both actions can happen at the same time if that is the best way to help the child and their family.
Before you engage with children and their parents or carers, highlight which services are likely to be the most suitable.
This will depend on:
the type of abuse the child experienced
the support that the child needs
any history that the child has with community services.
Ideally a family will self-refer to community organisations and specialist support services. However, your service can refer a child or their family to a service. You could do this by making a phone call to the service, with, or on behalf of, the family.
Sometimes it may help to refer a child or their family to a local specialist support service, especially if they already know and trust the service. In Victoria, there are many services that support young children.
These include services that help children recover from trauma, support families, and provide early help for children who may be at risk of abuse, neglect, or family violence.
There are specialist services that can also assist with:
safety and wellbeing concerns,
mental and physical health concerns
housing and accommodation
legal advice
financial help
problem behaviours
If that support service is an ISE, they can share information with The Orange Door under the CISS and the FVISS, as required.
This page shows some services, but it does not list all of them. There are many other services across Victoria that can support children and their families.
Decisions about the needs of First Nations People should be made by First Nations People.
If someone identifies as First Nations, they can choose to be supported by a worker from an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO). See a list of ACCOs.
They can also choose to be supported by The Orange Door – they work with Aboriginal Practice Leads to make cultural safety a priority.
The Orange Door has a dedicated team that supports First Nations People. This team works closely with local First Nations services and communities to meet the needs of individuals and families.
The Orange Door also supports Aboriginal self-determination by respecting First Nations People’s choice of services for referrals.
Matters involving sexual offences are serious. Report any concerns about sexual abuse before seeking advice or referring to a local sexual assault service.
For matters involving sexual offences, services can refer directly to local sexual assault services, instead of through The Orange Door.
You can contact local sexual assault services, including local Centres Against Sexual Assault (CASAs) and harmful sexual behaviour services for information and support.
If your service helps to refer a child to a specialist support service, that service may inform you of the outcome of the referral.
If you are not part of the referral, you may still learn the outcome through an information sharing request.
The service may tell you what services the child and their family have been connected to, or if the family declined support.
If the specialist service was unsuccessful in contacting the family, they may ask for your help.
Continue your responsibilities
At all times, you should continue to support the child, monitor the situation, and follow the 4 Critical Actions to respond to new information or risks.
This should be in collaboration with:
the child (if safe, reasonable and appropriate),
their parents or carers (if safe, reasonable and appropriate),
service leadership (if safe, reasonable and appropriate),
relevant authorities, and
any specialist support services.
Review
After any significant child safety incident, your approved provider must:
review its child safety policies, processes and practices
