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The children's health and safety standard outlines what you need to do to meet requirements about the health and safety of children and young people when you run a family day care (FDC) service.
Serious incidents are:
injury or trauma requiring medical attention
death of a child, family member, educator or staff member
an incident where emergency services have attended
a child is missing or cannot be accounted for
fires and natural disasters
road accidents.
You must report all serious incidents when a child is injured, becomes ill or is subjected to trauma in care, within 12 hours of the incident. This is so that we can report to the regulatory authority within the required 24 hours.
The educator must:
contact your local FDC office or the out-of-hours emergency number 7111 3663 to tell staff and get support
fill in the incident, injury, trauma or illness record form and send to the scheme office within 12 hours (linked here)
Call 7111 3663 to report emergencies that happen between 5.00 pm and 9.00 am
Always call 000 first in serious emergencies.
FDC educators are encouraged to use the Australian Government Department of Health’s Get up and grow guidelines when planning meals for children in their care.
You must follow the Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council’s Australian dietary guidelines on providing and promoting healthy food choices to children.
If you provide food for children as part of your service, you are considered to be running a food business and you must follow the Australia New Zealand food standards code . Your local council and SA Health can give you more information.
Children must be supervised while eating. For children under 4 years of age, you must take steps to prevent choking on food. See Kidsafe SA’s choking, suffocating and strangulation.
The Staying healthy report by the Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council is a good guide to helping you follow regulatory requirements.
Medication, first aid and health support
You must meet the health requirements for individual children by following the department's health support page.
Your first aid qualifications must be current and follow the Education and Care Services National Law.
Children can only leave the premises if:
the child is in the care of a parent of the child, or another person has been given permission. Use the Change of family details and authorisations form to update your current details.
the child is taken on an excursion (see excursions below)
the child needs medical care
there is an emergency, including evacuation drills (see incidents and emergencies above).
You must plan excursions that maximise children’s developmental learning experiences while considering their safety and wellbeing.
Routine excursions, such as daily trips to schools or preschools, need permission from each family in advance. Use the excursion permission form – routine (regular outing) form.
A risk benefit assessment – excursion routine (regular outing) must be completed, documented and reviewed at least annually.
Non-routine excursions, such as a trip to a shopping centre or zoo, need permission beforehand. Use the excursion permission form – non-routine. Permission can be given by phone, text or email, and followed up later with written permission.
A risk benefit assessment – excursion non-routine must be filled in before each non-routine excursion.
You must follow the Australian Road Rules, including the purchase, fitting and use of car restraints.
You must pay special attention to keeping children safe in and around driveways.
See the transport requirements page for more information on excursions and transportation.
FDC staff and FDC educators are mandated notifiers and are legally required to report suspect child abuse or neglect to the Child Abuse Report Line (CARL) .
All serious concerns (where you suspect a child or infant is in imminent or immediate danger) must be reported via the child abuse report line 131 478 (and not the online reporting system).
Non-serious concerns can be reported by using the Department for Child Protection’s online reporting system.
There is more detail in the Safeguarding children and young people policy.
As an organisation that provides services to children, the Department for Education must maintain child safe environments (CSE) compliance.
The department has achieved organisational compliance. This means individual sites and services do not need to lodge separate statements – this includes family day care (FDC) services and respite care programs (RCP).
If you’re an educator or care provider working with the department’s FDC or RCP, to be CSE compliant you must be aware of and follow the below list of child safe policies and procedures.
FDC and RCP specific
These policies and procedures are under review. Email FDC programs for a copy, education.fdccorporate@sa.gov.au.
Health and safety policy (under review)
Governance leadership and staffing (under review)
Programming physical environments and relationships (under review)
Respite Care Program Operational policy (under review).
Duty of care to children and young people policy (staff login required)
Information sharing guidelines for promoting safety and wellbeing procedure
Managing allegations of sexual misconduct in education and care settings guidelines
Protective practices for staff in their interactions with children and young people guidelines
Reporting critical incidents, injuries, hazards and near misses procedure (staff login required)
Responding to online safety incidents in SA schools – guideline
Sexual behaviour in children and young people procedure and guideline
Volunteer procedure for schools, preschools and care settings (staff login required)