New Educator Induction: Part 1 – The Boring legal stuff

Presented by Kathi Hewitson

Director, Coordinator, Nominated Supervisor and Educational Leader of

Foundations Family Day Care

Topics of Part 1 of the induction training

• Overview of Family Day Care
• Compliance
• Foundations policies
• Mandatory Insurance
• Child safety standards
• Child Protection
• Information to display
• Code Red/Catastrophic Fire Days
• Excursions
• Document handling

Overview of Family Day Care

• Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010 OR Education and Early Childhood Services (Registrations and Standards) Act 2011
• Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011
• National Quality Standard (updated 2018)
• Early Years Learning Framework/other approved learning frameworks
• A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 as modified by the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Jobs for Families Child Care Package) Act 2017
• Worker Screening Act 2020 OR Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016, Child Protection Law Reform (Transitional Arrangements and Related Amendments) Act 2017 and Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Regulations 2019
• More than 30 pieces of legislation effecting Family Day Care, both state & federal
• Local council law

​

Compliance

• Meaning
• Historical importance
• What must be complied with:
• Philosophy
• Policies
• Regulations
• Laws (state & federal)
• Potential consequences
• Individual
• Service

​

Foundations Policies

28 Policies are required by Education and Care Services National Regulations 168 & 169 and subsequent ruling

Education and Care Services National Regulations

Regulation 170 (2) Policies and procedures to be followed

The approved provider of a family day care service must take reasonable steps to ensure that the nominated supervisor and staff members of, and family day care educators engaged by or registered with, the service follow the policies and procedures required under regulations 168 and 169.

Our policies cover the topics of Health & Safety, Relationships with Children, Service Management, Staffing Arrangements and Additional Policies Required for Family Day Care

​

Mandatory Insurance

Education and Care Services National Regulations

30 Condition on service approval—family day care educator insurance

A service approval for a family day care service is granted subject to the condition that the approved provider of the service must ensure that each family day care educator engaged by or registered with the service holds insurance against public liability with a minimum cover of $10,000,000.

180(1) Evidence of prescribed insurance

The approved provider of an education and care service must keep evidence of the current prescribed insurance at the education and care service premises, or in the case of a family day care service, at the principal office of the service, and must make the evidence available for inspection by the Regulatory Authority or an authorised officer under the Law.

Child Safety Standards – History

• Comes from 2013 Royal Commission into Child Abuse
• Kept on the Portal in the policies section
• Foundations Family Day Care will:
• Take a preventative, proactive and participatory approach to child safety;
• Value and empower children to participate in decisions which affect their lives;
• Foster a culture of openness that supports all persons to safely disclose risks of any harm to children;
• Respect diversity in cultures and child rearing practices while keeping child safety paramount;
• Provide written guidance on appropriate conduct and behaviour towards children;
• Engage only the most suitable people to work with children and have high quality staff and volunteer supervision and professional development;
• Ensure children know who to talk with if they are worried or are feeling unsafe, and that they are comfortable and encouraged to raise such issues;
• Report suspected or actual abuse, neglect, mistreatment or grooming promptly to the appropriate authorities;
• Share information appropriately and lawfully with other organisations where the safety and wellbeing of children is at risk; and
• Value the input of and communicate regularly with families and guardians.

​

Child Safety Standards – What this means

Foundations Family Day Care has:

• Strong and clear governance arrangements which allow our Coordination Unit to ensure child safety is a focus within FFDC
• Clear commitment to child safety
• code of conduct which establishes appropriate behaviour with and around children
• Established human resource practices that reduce the risk of child abuse occurring within FFDC
• All staff and volunteers understand their role in keeping children safe, including their reporting responsibilities
• Risk management and mitigation practices
• Empowering children as they have a right to be heard and have their concerns and ideas taken seriously.

​

​

Child Protection

• Child Protection is about preventing and detecting abuse of children, so stopping the damage which can occur
• Every adult in the Educator’s home has a responsibility to report any concern about a child’s welfare (training for other adults)
• Children’s safety is paramount
• If ever in doubt, talk to the Coordinator ASAP!
• If Educator and other adults in the Educator’s home have not done training within the last 12 months – within 3 months of starting.

“If in doubt, report. If in no doubt, definitely report”�

Information to display

What MUST be displayed:

• Display of Information At A Service
• Information on program
• Evacuation plan at every exit
• Menu?

What must NOT be able to be seen by public

• Health records (e.g. asthma/anaphylaxis)
• Dates of birth
• Surnames
• Addresses
• Any other identifying information

Code Red Days/Catastrophic Fire Days

• Bushfire Risk Area (BA)
• No Care is to occur on a Code Red/Catastrophic Day in a BA
• Children who are booked in must be marked as Absent
• Penalties WILL be applied if an Educator has a child in care on a Code Red/Catasrophic Day
• Educators in a BA must monitor the news/other methods for Code Red/Catastrophic Fire Days
• No excursions are to occur into or through a BA on a Code Red Day

​

​

Excursions

• Option to use the Risk/Benefit Analysis, then:
• Excursion Risk Management Plan (ERMP) to be completed first (use Risk Matrix)
• Permission form from ERMP – two options
• Routine – once in 12 months (If no changes)
• Non-routine – every time
• Road Rules, including car seats, to be followed

​

Document Handling

• Any changes or alterations MUST be initialled by family member of child
• Confidentiality, security of documents and privacy is vital
• Fill in documents electronically whenever possible – only print if required
• Save documents using “surname, first name – title of document – date of document” format
• Keep enrolment forms, etc, in standardised folder
• Submit through the document upload centre on the website
• How long do documents need to be kept and by whom?

End Part 1

​

​

​

You need to complete the quiz on this section.