Child Safety Review national public consultation and FDC implications

FDCQ is urging all Family Day Care services and educators to have their voices heard in the national Child Safety Review consultation currently underway. This important review proposes significant changes to the National Law and Regulations that could have particular implications for the Family Day Care sector.

About the Review

The Australian Government, in partnership with state and territory governments, has engaged Deloitte Access Economics to undertake a Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) on proposed changes aimed at improving child safety arrangements in education and care services across Australia. These proposed policy options address recommendations from the Review of Child Safety Arrangements under the National Quality Framework.

Public consultation period

The consultation period is open now and closes on 11 June 2025. This is a critical opportunity for Family Day Care services and educators to provide feedback that will directly inform decisions about regulatory changes that may affect your day-to-day operations.

Key topics under review

The review focuses on 6 key areas, several of which have specific implications for Family Day Care.

1. Management of digital devices

Proposals include restricting the use of personal devices for taking images or videos of children, potentially requiring only service-issued devices to be used. This has particular implications for Family Day Care educators who often use personal devices for both business operations and documentation of children's learning.

2. Child Safety Training

Proposed changes aim to strengthen child protection provisions and introduce nationally consistent mandatory child safety training for all educators and staff.

3. Responding to Educator conduct

Includes making inappropriate conduct an offence, enhancing information sharing about prohibition notices, and expanding regulatory responses to educator conduct.

4. Working with children checks

Proposals seek to provide more nationally consistent approaches to WWCC requirements, including requiring valid checks before commencing roles and reporting changes in status.

5. Physical service environment safety

This includes proposals that would significantly impact Family Day Care services, such as:

• Assessing formal boundaries between FDC service premises and the rest of the residence/property
• Expanding authorised officers' powers to access all areas of FDC residences and properties
• This could particularly affect rural and remote FDC services where properties may be extensive with structures located far from children's play areas

6. Additional recommendations

Includes changes to how Regulatory Authorities identify and monitor related providers, extending limitation periods for proceedings, and improving information sharing with recruitment agencies.

FDCQ's response

FDCQ has formed a working party to review the proposals and prepare a comprehensive submission. However, to ensure our response truly represents the views of our members, we need your input.

Don’t delay, have your say

Your professional expertise and firsthand experience are invaluable to this process. We encourage all Family Day Care services and educators to:

1. Visit the official consultation website: https://content.deloitte.com.au/ChildSafetyReview
2. Review the 6 key topic areas and consider how proposed changes might affect your service
3. Share your thoughts with FDCQ through our anonymous feedback form so your perspectives can be incorporated into our submission
4. Complete the relevant survey on the CSR website:
   • Education and Care workforce survey (for educators)
   • Approved Providers, PMCs or nominated supervisors survey

Your feedback will help us develop a submission that accurately represents the Family Day Care sector and advocates for sensible regulation that enhances child safety while acknowledging the unique characteristics of Family Day Care environments.

Deadline reminder

FDCQ’s feedback form will close Friday, 30 May, to allow our Working Group enough time to collate all your feedback and ensure it is incorporated in our final submission.

All responses must be submitted by 11 June 2025. Don't miss this important opportunity to shape regulations that will affect your service.

For questions about the review or FDCQ's response, please contact mailto:enquires@fdcq.au.