Safeguarding in Child Care Centres
- Jacinda Trimble
- Sep 29
- 4 min read
We have all seen a lot of criticism around childcare centres lately and unfortunately some absolutely horrific incidents have occurred. Without dismissing the significance of all that has occurred and the importance of making relevant changes to ensure our children are safe, it is also important to recognise some good practice we’ve observed which is already occurring in the Early Education space.
Child safeguarding is not a new concept in the human services field but is likely to be a foreign or not well understood concept within the wider public. Child safeguarding is about our collective responsibility to ensure children are protected from abuse, harm, neglect and exploitation by proactively creating an environment physically, emotionally and systemically through policy and procedure where children are protected from these harms. Child safeguarding is usually talked about within the context of organisations, businesses, schools, and childcare centres and what these organisations are or can do to ensure children are safe. Working towards a future where all children are safe from abuse, safeguarding has to be a whole-of-community responsibility.
Remembering the “good ol’ days” of my parents and grandparents where “children are seen and not heard” and quietly consider myself a cycle-breaker. As a mother, as a practitioner in the field of children, as a soon-to-be social worker and as a community member, a citizen of the world we have inherited and will be passing on, I am passionate about ensuring children have a voice, and that their voices are heard. This does not mean passively allowing children to ‘run the world’ and ‘always get their way’… But rather empowering and providing appropriate opportunities for children’s voices to have weight in decision making that involves them. For me, it is as little as when deciding where to go for a family dinner out, by asking my children what they want to eat, and considering this when making a choice around where to eat. This does not mean we have sushi (a current favourite in my family) every time we go out, but means I’m going to look at a menu before we go somewhere to see if there are suitable options where everyone, or at least the majority, are going to have an opportunity to have something they enjoy. Dinner out is not just for my benefit, of not having to cook or clean up, and have something yummy to eat, but should be an enjoyable experience for everyone. I mean, I’m not going to make, buy or order myself a food I don’t like, why should I expect others – despite their age – to do the same?
The time I have spent lately with little people who attend Early Education centres has not been for the best of reasons. My visits have been with the purpose of ensuring these children’s voices are heard following reported concerns. When a staff member in a centre has done something inappropriate or outside of the policy guidelines.
The children I’ve had the privilege of spending time with have already been brave in sharing with their parents those incidents of harm or concern. Their parents should be praised for listening to and believing their children and reporting these worries to the respective centres. As a result of the high-quality child safeguarding policies and decisionmakers within these Early Education centres, through the processes of investigating and responding to these worries, I have been able to visit these children and conduct child-friendly interviews to ensure the children have a voice.
I’ve spent time drawing and colouring, playing kitchens, building Lego, talking in depth about Paw Patrol and reading books with these little people. We’ve talked about safe and not safe people. We’ve talked about all the good things and not so good things about kindy and everyone’s favourite foods. I have enjoyed that each young person has been different, a reminder of the individuality of humankind.
With a familiar person by their side, these children were able to share their voice with me, a relative stranger. Some were able to recall details of the noted worry; most had somewhat forgotten about the incident I was there to talk with them about. All were thinking about upcoming Father’s Day activities, what games they would be playing outside in the afternoon, or what was for afternoon tea - the things children should be worried and thinking about.
Fortunately, all of these children were able to identify appropriate safe adults in their lives whom they feel comfortable and confident in talking to when they have worries. Despite the alleged incidents, the children I’ve seen all presented and reported to feel safe and enjoy going to their respective kindergarten programs.
The experiences of these children, and mine as an outsider coming in to interview these children, suggests the child safeguarding policies, procedures and actions of these childcare centres are effective. Yes, harm might still occur on occasion, but with children being comfortable to share their worries, having safe people who they can talk to and knowing their voices will be heard goes a long way towards reducing the risk of deliberate harm.
An organisation who is willing to put the necessary resources into ensuring children are spoken to by an independent person, thoroughly investigated and take action when worries are raised, no matter the perceived significance of the worry, is an organisation where child safeguarding is not just a concept documented in a policy sitting on a shelf somewhere but is an inherent, embedded value. It is a standard which is lived by across all levels and an organisation actively working towards a safer place for children; a cycle-breaker, a change maker, a disrupter, an innovator, a game-changer.
In this time of worrying media stories, ‘do your research’ – find a centre that has strong safeguarding policies and talk with them about it. Are they living and breathing safeguarding as a value they hold dear? If yes, that’s where you want to be. That’s where I’d want my children to be.
