01/12/2025
If you’ve seen the headlines about yesterday’s early childhood reforms and you’re wondering how any of it connects to Family Day Care, you’re definitely not the only one. There’s a lot of noise out there right now, so let me make it simple.
The biggest piece to know is that the Federal Government is introducing mandatory child safety training for everyone working in early childhood education, and yes, that includes Family Day Care educators. Even though most of the media has been talking about long day care centres, the changes apply to all CCS-approved services, which means us too.
You may have also heard about the option for services to close from 5 pm, up to five days a year, so staff can complete this training. That part is written with centre-based services in mind. For FDC, we’ll still be required to do the training, but the way it’s scheduled will need to reflect how we operate as home-based educators. We’ll get clearer guidance on that as the rollout gets closer.
These reforms sit within a larger package focused on strengthening child safety and sector quality. There will be new systems, registers, and compliance measures, and while some of it will touch FDC, none of it is anything to panic over.
My intention is to keep things calm, practical, and clear for you. You don’t need to sift through legislation or guess what applies, I’ll make sure you have the information you need, when you need it, without the overwhelm. More updates to come as the details land.
