Resources and supporting guidance

​​​​Ensure immediate safety

If a child has just been abused, or is at immediate risk of harm you must take reasonable steps to protect them. These include:

• separating the alleged victim and others involved, ensuring all parties are supervised by a service staff member
• arranging and providing urgent medical assistance where necessary by:
  • administering first aid assistance
  • calling 000 for an ambulance and following any instructions from emergency service officers/paramedics
  • calling 000 for urgent police assistance if the person who is alleged to have engaged in the abuse poses an immediate risk to the health and safety of any person (you should also identify a contact person at the service for future liaison with police).

Where an incident of suspected child abuse occurs at the service, you may need to preserve evidence until the police or other relevant authorities arrive on the premises. ​Consider all of the following:

• Environment: Do not clean up the area and preserve the sites where the alleged incidents occurred. Cordon off the relevant area/room/building and take reasonable steps to ensure that no one enters these areas.
• Clothing: If sexual abuse/physical abuse is suspected you may also need to ensure that the person who has allegedly committed the abuse and the child who has allegedly been abused remain in their clothing and, if this is not possible, ensure that the clothes are not washed, are handled as little as possible, and stored in a sealable bag.
• Other Physical Items: If there are any other items that may amount to evidence (e.g. weapons, bedding, condoms), try to ensure that these things remain untouched.
• Potential Witnesses: Reasonable precautions must be taken to prevent discussion of the incident between those involved in the alleged incident (including any other children who may have witnessed the incident).

Staff supervision will depend on who the incident involves:

• Incidents with Children, a staff member should be allocated to remain with each child involved in separate rooms if the incidence involves multiple children.
• Incidents with a staff member, a staff member of the service’s leadership team (if possible) should remain with the staff and the staff member

• As an early childhood staff member, you must act as soon as you witness an incident or form a reasonable belief that a child has been, or is at risk of being abused.
• You must act if you form a suspicion/reasonable belief, even if you are unsure and have not directly observed child abuse (if the victim or another person tells you about the abuse).
• You should make sufficient enquiries to form a reasonable belief and to determine a child's immediate needs. However, once a reasonable belief has been formed, it's not your role to investigate. This is the role of Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) Child Protection or Victoria Police.
• Child abuse includes any instance of physical or sexual abuse (including grooming), emotional or psychological harm, serious neglect and family violence.
• If you hold significant concerns for a child's wellbeing, which do not appear to be a result of child abuse you must still act. For more information, visit Responding to concerns about the wellbeing of a child.

Under the National Law and the Children's Services Act (CS Act), the approved provider of an education and care service must ensure that an incident, injury, trauma and illness record is kept.

This template aligns with this requirement, and it's strongly recommended that all early childhood service staff utilise this template for incidents, disclosures and suspicions of child abuse.

As an early childhood staff member, you must keep clear and comprehensive notes relating to incidents, disclosures and allegations of child abuse.

It's strongly recommended that you use this template:

• ACECQA Child Safety Incident Response Template (PDF)

Your aim should be to provide as much information within the template as possible. These records will be helpful in making a report of the abuse to the relevant authorities. If you require support to complete the template, you should seek support from your manager/service provider.

This information may be sought at a later date if the matter is the subject of court proceedings. These notes may also later assist you if you are required to provide evidence to support the court's decisions.

In addition to completing the template, all early childhood services must notify VECRA of the incident, or allegation that physical or sexual abuse of a child or children has occurred or is occurring while the child or children are being educated and cared for by the service.

This notification must be:

• made within 24 hours of becoming aware of it
• for services regulated under the National Law - submitted through National Quality Agenda (NQA) IT System
• ​​​for occasional care or limited hours services:
  • complete the form AS14: Notification of complaints and serious incidents
  • email form to licensed.childrens.services@education.vic.gov.au.

If you witness an incident where you believe a child has been subject to abuse you must take immediate action to protect the safety of children involved. Go straight to:

• 'Responding to an emergency' if there is an immediate risk to health and safety.

All suspicions that a child has been, or may be in danger of being abused must be taken seriously. This includes abuse that is suspected to have occurred within the family, the community or within the service.

If you form a reasonable belief that a child has been, or may be at risk of being abused, you must act, even if you have not directly witnessed the child abuse.

If anyone discloses that they believe that a child has been, is being, or is at risk of being abused, you must treat these disclosures seriously and take immediate action.

Very young children may be unable to disclose abuse. They may be unaware that they are being subject to abuse and/or unaware that the information they are providing is disclosing abuse.

Regardless of the intent of a child's conversation, on receipt of any information that supports you to form a reasonable belief that a child has been abused, or is in danger of being abused, you must take immediate action.

For further guidance on managing the disclosure read Strategies for managing a disclosure, below.

How best to manage a disclosure and what to avoid

When managing a disclosure, you should:

• listen to the child and allow them to speak
• stay calm and not display expressions of panic or shock
• use a neutral tone with no urgency and where possible use the child's language and vocabulary
• be patient and non-judgemental throughout
• highlight to the child that they are doing the right thing in telling you about what has happened and that it is not their fault
• allow the child to talk at their own pace and in their own words
• reassure the child that you believe them and that disclosing the matter was the right thing to do
• use verbal facilitators such as, 'Okay, I see', restate the child's previous statement, and use non-suggestive words of encouragement, designed to keep the child talking in an open-ended way
• tell the child you are required to tell someone who is going to be able to help you.' (For an older child it may be appropriate to tell them which authority you have to report to and to briefly explain their role).

When managing a disclosure, you should avoid:

• ​asking questions that are investigative and potentially invasive, and may make the child feel uncomfortable and cause them to withdraw
• going over the information time and time again (you are only gathering information to help you form a belief on reasonable grounds that you need to make a report to the relevant authority
• asking leading questions, but instead, gently ask, 'What happened next?' rather than 'Why?'
• pressuring the child into telling you more than they want to.

Strategies for managing a disclosure

Very young children may be unable to disclose abuse. They may be unaware that they are being subject to abuse and/or unaware that the information they are providing is disclosing abuse.

Regardless of the intent of the conversation, it's important that you respond in an appropriate and supportive manner. All disclosures of abuse must be taken seriously and addressed immediately by following the 4 critical actions.

It's the role of early childhood staff members to listen and respond appropriately to a child's concerns.

You should reassure the child that they have done the right thing in talking to you.

Where a child discloses abuse then asks you to keep a secret you should consider stating:

• I am not going to be able to keep your story a secret. I really have to tell someone who is going to be able to help you.

You can document any disclosures in the template linked below:

• ACECQA Child Safety Incident Response Template (PDF)

This may be critical for further investigations and/or legal proceedings.

If you have witnessed behaviour, have a suspicion, or received a disclosure of child abuse, you will need to determine whether you have formed a 'reasonable belief' or a 'belief on reasonable grounds' that a child has or is being abused or is at risk of being abused.

A reasonable belief is a deliberately low threshold:

• to encourage people to report suspected abuse to the relevant authorities and agencies, enabling authorities to investigate the allegations and take further action to prevent or stop any further abuse
• that does not require proof, but is more than rumour or speculation
• which is met if a reasonable person in the same position would have formed the belief on the same grounds. Most of the reporting provisions in the Children Youth and Families Act 2005 and Crimes Act 1958 require people to report suspected child abuse that has occurred, is occurring, or is at risk of occurring where they have formed a 'reasonable belief' or 'a belief on reasonable grounds'.

Forming a belief on reasonable grounds may include:

• a child stating that they have been abused
• any person telling you they believe someone has been abused (sometimes the child may be talking about themselves)
• physical indicators of abuse such as non-accidental or unexplained injuries; persistent neglect, or inadequate care and supervision lead you to believe that the child has been abused (refer to Identify signs of child abuse)
• behavioural indicators of abuse lead you to believe that the child has been abused (refer to Identify signs of child abuse)
• other signs such as family violence, parental substance misuse, psychiatric illness or intellectual disability that is impacting on the child's safety, stability or development.

How you should proceed if your approved provider advises you not to make a report

In some circumstances, your approved provider may advise you not to proceed with reporting suspected abuse.

Regardless of this advice, if you hold a reasonable belief that a child has been, or is at risk of being abused you must still make a report to Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (VECRA), DFFH Child Protection and/or Victoria Police.

This report may be critical in protecting a child from abuse. If you fail to report you may not discharge your duty of care and in some circumstances you may be subject to criminal charges.

If you decide not to report, you should document your decision.

If a report has already been made, view the section below: Making additional reports.

Making additional reports in circumstances where a report has already been made

Reporting further reasonable grounds for belief

You must make a new report in any circumstance where you become aware of any further reasonable grounds for the belief. Every report is critical to protecting a child by building evidence and enabling authorities to gain a clearer understanding of the risks.

This means that you must make a report to protect a child even if you are aware that:

• VECRA, DFFH Child Protection or Victoria Police were previously involved or are already involved with the child and/or their family
• another party, such as a family member, has already raised concerns with the relevant authorities.

If another person has already made a report

Once you form a reasonable belief that a child has been, or is at risk of being abused, your obligation to report is separate from the obligations or actions of other people. You should still make a report.

In addition, it's important to consider that other people may not have access to the specific detail you have. The information you provide through your report may assist the relevant authority to take further action to protect the child.

However, there may be times when two or more service staff members have formed a belief about the same child on the same occasion and based on the same information. In this situation it's sufficient that only one of the staff members make a report.

The other is obliged to ensure that the report has been made and that all the grounds for their own belief were included in the report made by the other person.

In instances where two staff members form different views about whether or not to make a report, if one staff member continues to hold a reasonable belief that a child is in need of protection, then they are legally obliged to make a report.

You may still need to contact DFFH Child Protection and/or Victoria Police and/or make a referral to Child FIRST if:

• you do not think the child is at risk of abuse but you still hold concerns about a student's wellbeing
• you believe that a child is not subject to child abuse, but you still hold significant concerns for their wellbeing.

A subpoena/witness summons is a Court Order that compels you to produce documents, or attend Court and give evidence, or to do both of these things.

You are usually issued with a subpoena/witness summons because one of the parties to the legal proceedings believes that you may have information/documentation that is relevant to the legal proceeding.

You must comply with the subpoena/witness summons because there can be serious consequences for not doing so.

If you are unsure about your obligations under a subpoena/witness summons, speak to your manager, and ask for support to respond to the subpoena.

This support may include obtaining independent legal advice. It is not appropriate to contact the lawyer who issued the subpoena/witness summons for advice. For more information, visit Federation of Community Legal Centres Victoria.

There may be concerns or complaints about the service's management of an incident, in particular by parents/carers. This is a very stressful time for parents/carers, and concerns, which they do not believe have been dealt with fairly may quickly escalate.

You should refer all concerns or complaints that are raised by parents or carers to your approved provider as soon as they are received.

If you have concerns that the health, safety and wellbeing of children may have been compromised by the actions of your approved provider (or another approved provider), or if you believe the relevant legislation has been contravened, you should make a complaint to the Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (VECRA).

​​​​Seeking advice before contacting parents

Before contacting a parent/carer, you must contact Victoria Police, the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) Child Protection, and/or the Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (VECRA), depending on who the report has been made to.

They will advise your service about whether it's safe, reasonable and appropriate to contact parents/carers at this stage.

You will be advised not to contact the parents in circumstances where:

• the parents are alleged to have engaged in the abuse
• a disclosure to the parent/carer may subject the child to further abuse
• the notification is likely to adversely affect the investigation of the incident by the relevant authorities.

Making contact with parents, where advised as safe, reasonable and appropriate​

Where advised to be safe, reasonable and appropriate, your service should make sensitive and professional contact with parents as soon as possible on the day of the incident, disclosure or suspicion.

In many cases where it is suspected that a child has been, or is at risk of being abused, it is extremely important that parents/carers are notified as soon as practicable. This enables parents/carers to take steps to:

• prevent or limit their child’s exposure to further abuse.
• ensure that their child receives the support that they require.

It's also a requirement under the National Quality Framework that parents be contacted within 24 hours, if the suspected abuse occurs whilst a child is at an education or care service.

However, there are some circumstances where contacting parents/carers may place a child at greater risk.​

How to discuss concerns with parents or carers

When talking to parents/carers about suspected abuse, it is important to:

• remain calm
• be empathetic to feelings and acknowledge distress
• acknowledge and validate concerns
• provide appropriate details of the incident, disclosure and/or suspicion of child abuse
• outline the action the early childhood staff have taken to date
• inform them of who the incident, disclosure and/or suspicion has been reported to
• provide the name and contact phone number of DFFH Child Protection and/or the police officer who is investigating
• provide information on whether they are likely to be contacted by DFFH Child Protection or Victoria Police (if known)
• inform them that the investigation may take some time and ask what further information they would like and how school staff can assist them.

For more advice on what information can be shared, refer to Privacy and information sharing.

​Making sure a child is safe and supported when attending the service

Services must operate in a way that ensures the safety, health and wellbeing of children and meets their educational and developmental needs.

Where appropriate, services need to provide holistic support to children and families to address the trauma and wellbeing issues associated with child abuse is best achieved through careful planning.

Where appropriate, services should consider:​

• establishing regular communication with the child's parent/carer to plan support strategies and discuss a child's progress, and the success of any support strategies
• engage allied health professionals with expertise in addressing child abuse and trauma to support the service to design and implement support strategies
• establish a safety plan, in instances where the abuse has been led by a person within the service, and/or visiting the service to mitigate risk of further abuse.

Providing referrals to support services (where appropriate)

Services can also refer children and their families to a wide range of support services, specialising in providing tailored support and advice for children impacted by abuse and their families.

For example, Sexual Assault Services Victoria (formerly CASA) provide expert support for victims of sexual assault including a Crisis Line and Australian Childhood Foundation provide recognised programs that counsel and support children to recover.

Other agencies such as The Orange Door, Safe Steps and Safe and Equal provide support and referrals to victims of family violence.

Where appropriate it's recommended that you provide families with the details of available support services. This corresponds with the requirements under National Qualify Standard 6.1.3, that current information is available to families about community services and resources to support parenting and family wellbeing.

Providing developmentally and culturally appropriate support

Whilst a child’s background should not impact on a decision to report suspected abuse, staff and volunteers in early childhood services need to be sensitive to a child’s individual circumstances.

It's a requirement under the Child Safe Standards that services 'take account of the diversity of all children', including (but not limited to) the needs of:

Children with disabilities

When supporting a child with disability who has been impacted by child abuse it is critical to consider the child's:

• chronological age, developmental age and their cognitive functioning in order to tailor developmentally appropriate support strategies
• vulnerability to ongoing abuse when considering the need to make a further report and/or implement risk mitigation strategies (children with disabilities disproportionately fall prey to child abuse, in particular child sexual abuse).

First Nations children

When supporting a First Nations child who has been impacted by child abuse, in addition to taking action to protect a child's safety and wellbeing, it is essential that services provide culturally appropriate support.

It's important to recognise that First Nations communities have a specific history, and cultural traditions, and may be sensitive to the way First Nations issues are represented. For example:

• it may be inappropriate to use peoples' names or images and you should always ask
• family violence is not an aspect of 'traditional' First Nations cultures (family violence is obviously unacceptable in any cultural context and care should be taken not to suggest that culture or ethnicity explains family violence).

There are interconnecting and trans-generational experiences of abuse within First Nations communities. The impact of this abuse is compounded by the fact that many First Nations communities have:

• not had access to culturally appropriate services or supports
• a fear or distrust of government supports
• experienced significant socioeconomic disadvantage and marginalisation as a result of their Aboriginal status.

The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) plays an important role in providing referrals, advice/information, duty work or case work assistance to First Nations people in the State of Victoria.

Children from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds

When supporting a child from CALD backgrounds who has been impacted by child abuse, in addition to taking action to protect a child's safety and wellbeing, it is essential that services provide culturally appropriate support. However, this should not detract from ensuring the child’s safety and wellbeing.

Where possible services should work with relevant cultural support services (ensuring that the confidentiality of the child and family is maintained) and engage an interpreter when communicating with the student’s family if needed.

Children with refugee backgrounds

When working with children from refugee backgrounds who have been impacted by child abuse it is important to recognise that they (and their families) may also be experiencing trauma, dislocation and loss.

This trauma may significantly affect family wellbeing and parenting capacity and whilst these issues also require sensitive consideration, they should not detract from ensuring the child’s safety and wellbeing (or impact on decisions to report suspected abuse).

Services should consider contacting services that specialise in providing support to refugees (ensuring that the confidentiality of the child and their family is maintained) such as Foundation House.

Support for impacted staff members

It can be stressful for staff involved in any incidents, disclosures or suspicions of child abuse, especially if they have also experienced abuse.

It's recommended that you speak to your service provider about arranging appropriate support.

You should also consider:

• talking to your GP or another allied health professional
• reporting historical or current experiences of abuse to Victoria Police.

You can also contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or chat to someone online at Lifeline.

In Victoria there are a range of legal obligations which set out the actions you must take if you suspect a child has, or is at risk of being abused:

• all adults are legally obliged to report any reasonable belief that an adult has sexually abused a child under the age of 16 years to Victoria Police (failure to do so can amount to a criminal offence). These reports must be made to Victoria Police
• mandatory reporters, including:
  • Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) registered early childhood teachers
  • Maternal Child Health (MCH) nurses
  • early childhood workers must also report any reasonable belief that a child is being physically or sexually abused, and the child's parents are unable or unwilling to protect the child from that harm. These reports must be made to Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) Child Protection or Victoria Police.
• all early childhood service staff have a duty of care to take reasonable steps to protect children in their care from harm (your duty of care will be determined in relation to the nature of the service, and your role within it).
• all services must comply with the Child Safe Standards.
• licensed services must comply with the Children's Services Act 1996 and corresponding legislation, which includes specific requirements on how services must respond to child abuse.
• approved services must comply with either the Education and Care Services National Law and National Regulations or the CS Act or Regulations which include specific requirements on how services must respond to child abuse.
• MCH Services must comply with the MCH Service Guidelines, corresponding legislation and the by-laws of its local government. Following these 4 critical actions is considered best practice and will support you to meet these obligations. For more information, visit Understanding your obligations​.

If, after considering this content you:

• are unsure whether a witnessed incident, suspicion or disclosure should lead you to form a reasonable belief that child abuse has, or is at risk of occurring you should seek further advice from service management (your approved provider or licensee) or DFFH Child Protection or Victoria Police.
• hold significant concerns for a child's wellbeing, which do not appear to be a result of child abuse you should still act. Visit responding to other concerns about the wellbeing of a child which will support you in making appropriate referrals to The Orange Door, DFFH Child Protection and Victoria Police.