family day care and home-based staff requirements
All children's services staff, in every type of children's service, must be aware of their obligations as mandatory reporters and must have completed the required training. For detailed information on these requirements and the relevant legislation, see DoCS Mandatory reporters page.
The licensee of a family day care or home-based service must ensure that each family day care carer (or, in the case of a home-based service, the licensee him/herself), has an understanding of the following principles as set out in Section 202 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998:
- the paramount consideration in the provision of children's services is the best interests of children
- children should receive services that meet their individual needs (including the needs of children with a disability) and enhance their physical, emotional, cognitive, social and cultural development
- parents have both a right and a responsibility to be involved in the making of decisions by a children's service in so far as those decisions affect their children.
PLEASE NOTE: Children's services must also have regard to the provisions of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 - family day care carers and the licensee of a home-based service should have:
- an understanding of their responsibilities under the child protection legislation
- an understanding that the environment of a children’s service must be safe for children
- a basic knowledge of:
- the stages of physical, emotional, cognitive, social and cultural development of children
- appropriate activities and experiences for children of various ages and stages of development
- children’s health, hygiene and nutritional needs
- experience in caring for children EXCEPT in the case of trainees
- the ‘required abilities to care for children’ (see Clause 6 of the Regulation)
Requirement |
Part, Division, Clause |
Page |
Meaning of “required abilities to care for children” |
Part 1 Clause 6 |
10 |
employment
The Commission for Children and Young People Act 1998 requires employers to conduct an employment screening of preferred applicants for certain types of child-related employment, including employment in child care centres.
The Child Protection (Prohibited Employment) Act 1998 prohibits anyone convicted on a serious sex offence from applying for, undertaking or remaining in child-related employment.
child number requirements
The Regulation specifies the number of children that may be provide with care by a family day care or home-based service. References to the Regulation are provided in the introduction section for:
The next page outlines the role of an authorised supervisor.