Child Safe Standards: what every parent should know
What Victoria's Child Safe Standards require, what good practice looks like, and how to raise a concern.
🩺 Health, safety & wellbeing · 5 min read
Key facts
- Victoria's Child Safe Standards are compulsory for all early childhood services.
- Every educator must hold a valid Working with Children Check.
- Services must have a clear, public process for raising and responding to concerns.
What the Standards require
- Child safety embedded in leadership, governance and culture
- Children's voices taken seriously and acted on
- Families informed and involved
- Equity upheld and diverse needs respected
- Staff and volunteers suitable and supported
- Complaint processes that are child-focused
- Ongoing training for all staff
- Physical and online environments that reduce harm
- Regular review of policies and practice
What it looks like in a good centre
You should see visible sign-in procedures, secure entry, supervision plans, nappy change and toileting practices that are open and observable, and educators who explain what they are doing before they do it — including with babies.
You should also be able to find the child safety policy and the process for raising a concern without having to ask twice.
Raising a concern
Concerns can be raised with any educator, the room leader, or the centre manager, in person or in writing. If a concern relates to a child's immediate safety, it should be escalated to the approved provider and, where required, to the regulator and police.
Frequently asked questions
Who can I contact if I have a safety concern about a childcare service?+
Start with the centre manager or approved provider. Concerns about a service's compliance can also be raised with the Victorian Department of Education's Quality Assessment and Regulation Division, and any concern about a child's immediate safety should go to police or child protection.
Do all educators need a Working with Children Check?+
Yes. All educators, students, volunteers and contractors working with children must hold a current Working with Children Check, and services must verify and monitor them.
Keep reading
Immunisation and illness: the rules for Victorian childcare
No Jab No Play, immunisation history statements and how long to keep your child home for common illnesses.
How to choose a childcare centre in Melbourne's outer east
Ratings, ratios, fees and the 12 questions worth asking on every tour before you accept a place.
Want to talk it through in person?
Book a tour of our Bayswater or Mooroolbark centre and ask us anything.