children's services

children at a child care centre

In NSW, DoCS licenses, registers or grants approval to operate services for children from birth through to school age.

Early childhood services must provide a safe and appropriate care and educational environment for children and are governed by strict regulations. See more on children’s services regulations, licensing application forms.

These services, also called "child care services" or "early childhood services” include preschools, long day care, occasional care, mobile services, family day care, home-based care and child-minding in retail shopping centres.

DoCS also registers out of school hours care services, which include before and after school hours care and vacation care services.

People who work in children's services must meet the requirements of the Children's Services Regulation 2004 and in some cases must have an approved qualification. See more on qualifications for working in children's services.

As a children’s services worker, you have a legal obligation to report suspected child abuse or “risk of harm”. See more information on mandatory reporting.

new screening consent forms

New requirements for doing criminal record checks of licensees and authorised supervisors came into effect on 2 March 2009.

DoCS is now required to use a ‘100 point’ ID check to verify the identity of people being screened for children’s services licensing purposes.

There are two new screening consent forms, one for licensees and one for authorised supervisors. The new forms are available on the licensing forms page.

children's services newsletter - Building Blocks

cover of Building BlocksFor all the latest news in children's services, see the latest issue of Building Blocks:

To report suspected child abuse or neglect, call the DoCS Helpline on 132 111 (24 hours/7 days)