Do I need a Working with Children Check?

Camps

Child care services including:

• centre-based long day care  (14)
• occasional care  (16)
• family day care (18)
• in-home care  (20)
  • outside school hours care (22) 

Supervision of a child 14 years of age in employment under the Child Employment Act 2003 (76)

Children’s services including kindergartens or preschools under the Children’s Services Act 1996 and Education and Care Services National Law (Victoria) Act 2010 (26)

Clubs, associations, or movements of a cultural, recreational or sporting nature that provide services or conduct activities for, or directed at, children or whose membership comprises primarily children (42)

Educational institutions for children, specifically:

• state schools (all primary, secondary, technical and special state schools) (44)
• non-government schools (all primary, secondary and special non-government schools) (46)
• TAFE colleges and TAFE divisions of universities providing VCE and /or Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) subjects (48)
• some adult education providers offering VCE and/or VCAL subjects (50)
• other institutions providing children's study or training programs (52)

Commercial entertainment or party services for children unless they are merely incidental to or in support of other business activities (30)

Commercial gym or play facilities for children unless they are merely incidental to or in support of other business activities (32)

Paediatric wards of public, private or denominational hospitals as defined in the Health Services Act 1988 (58)

Commercial photography services for children unless they are merely incidental to or in support of other business activities (34)

Student exchange / homestay arrangement under Part 4.5A of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006, including accommodation in a person’s home (78)

Commercial talent or beauty competitions for children unless they are merely incidental to or in support of other business activities (36)

Youth remand, residential, or justice centres, supervision units and probation services within the meaning of the Children Youth and Families Act 2005 (56)

If you are closely related to each child you work with, and are not a kinship carer, you do not need a Check. Closely related to a child means:

• spouse or domestic partner
• parent, step-parent, mother-in-law or father-in-law
• grandparent
• uncle or aunt
• brother or sister, including half sibling, step sibling, brother inlaw or sister-in-law.
• In the case of domestic partners, a person who would be closely related to the child if the domestic partners were married to each other

If you’re a teacher with the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) you are exempt from the Check. However, if your VIT registration is suspended or cancelled, the exemption no longer applies.

Although you don’t need a Check, if you’re a registered teacher and do any child-related work that is not teaching in a school or an early childhood service, you will need to notify WWCCV by completing the Teacher notification form which is available on the Service Victoria website.

Victoria Police officers and Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers are exempt from the Check.

However if the officer is suspended or dismissed from Victoria Police or the AFP, they are no longer exempt and must apply for a Check. They must notify in writing every organisation that engages them in child-related work within seven days of the suspension or dismissal.

Visitors who normally live outside Victoria and hold an equivalent Check from their home State/ Territory, you can do child-related work in Victoria without a Check for a maximum of 30 days in a calendar year, which can comprise one or several events or occasions.

Visitors who normally live outside Victoria and don’t hold an equivalent Check from their home State/ Territory, can do child-related work in Victoria without a Check on only one occasion or event per calendar year, which may last for a maximum of 30 days.