Child safety and wellbeing

Guidance on Child Safe Standard 2: Embedding child safety and wellbeing in leadership, governance, and culture in early childhood services.

Early childhood

To comply with Child Safe Standard 2, you must:

embed risk management in service leadership, governance and culture
embed a culture of child safety in early childhood services

You must comply with all elements of Child Safe Standard 2.

Child safety and wellbeing

Standard 2 focuses on embedding a culture of child safety at all levels:

approved provider
service leadership
staff and volunteers.

Service leaders must:

promote and model child safety
put in place systems and processes to keep children safe
make a public commitment to child safety.

Child Safe Standard 2

Read the full text of the Standard and its elements.

Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in leadership, governance and culture

Early childhood services must comply with all the following elements of this standard:

The service makes a public commitment to child safety (2.1).
A child safe culture is championed and modelled at all levels of the service from the top down and bottom up (2.2).
Governance arrangements facilitate implementation of the child safety and wellbeing policy at all levels (2.3).
Code of Conduct provides guidelines for staff and volunteers on expected behavioural standards and responsibilities (2.4).
Risk management strategies focus on preventing, identifying and mitigating risks to children and young people (2.5).
Staff and volunteers understand their obligations on information sharing and record keeping (2.6).

Implement Standard 2

Ensure your service’s policies and procedures include the requirements in Standard 2.

Open all

Make sure you have a Child Safety and Wellbeing policy (Child Safe Environment policy)

Make sure your Child Safety and Wellbeing policy (Child Safe Environment policy) clearly sets out how your service prioritises the safety and wellbeing of children. This must include the service’s:

expectations
policies
procedures in relation to each of the Standards.

Make a public commitment to child safety at your service

State your commitment to child safety:

on the home page of your approved provider and service websites
in public areas of the service such as the reception area
in your service philosophy and policies
in service newsletters, recruitment and enrolment materials
in training and induction for all staff and volunteers
make child safety an agenda item for discussion at every staff meeting.

Leaders champion and model a child safety culture

The approved provider and service leaders must:

promote and model child safety:

set clear expectations around child safety
ensure the service’s Child Safe Environment policy (Child Safe Environment policy) is followed by all staff and volunteers.

ensure zero tolerance to racism at the service:

complaints and concerns are taken seriously
anti-racism information is visible and accessible for all.

Governance and leadership arrangements support child safety

The approved provider:

must put governance and management systems in place that allow them to see whether risk assessment and management is working properly at the service. Service leaders must:
regularly review the service’s performance in delivering child safety and wellbeing
identify, prevent and reduce risks of child abuse and harm at the service
use a risk assessment and risk management approach. This means that service leaders:
Conduct a risk assessment of abuse and harm to children that considers:

the service setting
service activities, including excursion and transportation
all adults at the service including staff, volunteers, parents, carers and visitors
physical environments, and
digital technology and the online environment.

Manage the risks identified by putting in place:

systems
policies and procedures
information
training and
support. Leaders should:

review all risk assessment and risk management strategies regularly. This should happen if there are changes to:

legislation
policy, or
the physical or online environment at the service.

Child abuse risks should be:

monitored
reviewed, and
evaluated regularly.

If there are new risks, update your service policies and procedures.
Make sure all your governance arrangements prioritise protecting children. This includes:

your service philosophy
all policies and procedures and practices.

Code of Conduct

Your service’s Code of Conduct must:

be publicly available
be the basis of induction and training so everyone is aware of its contents
outline acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, and the consequences for breaching it
apply to everyone at the service, including all adults and children
require everyone at the service to disclose any potential conflicts of interest (once known, the conflict of interest must be managed)
be reviewed and updated following any incidents, complaints, concerns or near misses.

Create an open environment that encourages identifying and reporting harm

Promote regular open discussion on child safety issues at:

staff meetings
leadership team meetings
supervision meetings and annual reviews
at parent information meetings
during conversations between educators and parents at pick up/drop off.

Support people everyone to disclose any child safety concerns or complaints.

report back to complainants about the actions taken as a result of their complaint.

Record keeping

Keeping good records helps ensure accountability and transparency.

Make sure everyone in the service:

knows what information can be shared while respecting privacy
attends training on information sharing and child safety laws. Or invite a speaker to present to staff.
understands their record keeping obligations:

what records to keep about incidents, concerns or complaints of abuse or harm to a child
when to make them (as soon as possible to the time of the incident)
what format to keep records (electronic or hardcopy)
where to store the records (electronic and hardcopy)
why record keeping is important (so complaints or abuse allegations can be investigated properly).

provide regular refresher training to all staff and volunteers on their reporting obligations. This should include:

reporting through the service’s internal processes
external reporting including to police and child protection
reporting to the Victorian Regulatory Authority, the Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (VECRA).

Seek feedback on your systems

Consult with staff, volunteers, families and experts when reviewing policies and systems.
Ask children:

what matters to them
what makes them feel safe, and
whether the service’s child safety strategies are meeting their needs.

NQF Child Safety Guides

The guides focus on creating, maintaining and improving a child safe culture in early childhood services. They include:

information on each Child Safe Standard
case studies
questions to guide reflection
additional reading and resources.
Download the guides and extra tools

The two NQF Safety Guides include information and practical guidance:

NQF Child Safe Culture Guide
NQF Online Safety Guide. There are also additional resources, including the:
NQF Child Safe Culture – Self-assessment and risk assessment tool
NQF Online Safe Culture – Self-assessment and risk assessment tool
Child Safety incident response template – Responding to complaints, concerns, allegations and disclosures
Reporting and Responding Schemes tool. Download all these resources at Child Safety, together with links to additional ACECQA resources about child safety.

Additional resources

Understand the Standards

The Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) have information for all types of organisations that must comply with the Child Safe Standards. This includes:

CCYP | Resources and support for the Child Safe Standards
CCYP | Translated resources about the Child Safe Standards Note: information isn’t tailored for early childhood services.

Possible next steps

Read more about all the Child Safe Standards(opens in a new window) in early childhood services.

Early childhood education and care

Updated 26 March 2026

Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (VECRA)

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