US EditionThere’s a New Ban on Vaping in Childcare Centres, but What Else Do We Need to Keep Kids Safe?
- Starting in September, new regulations aimed at enhancing child safety in early education services will be implemented, as confirmed by the federal government earlier this week.
- These changes follow a 2023 review revealing serious safety concerns and include mandatory abuse reporting within 24 hours, down from one week.
- Additional measures include banning vapes in all early childhood centres and stronger rules on photographing children using only service-issued devices.
- In 2023-24, there were 148 serious incident reports for every 100 approved childcare services, prompting Education Minister Jason Clare to highlight the need for safety guidelines that are better tailored to current requirements.
- State and federal ministers will meet next week to consider further actions while child safety will become explicit in the National Quality Standard in 2026.
16 Articles
16 Articles
‘Reports of concern’ rose 60 percent after Govt cut child safety contracts
Children’s Minister Karen Chhour is defending higher reporting of possible harm against children in the months after her cost-cutting directives led to Oranga Tamariki dropping community agencies. The 11th-hour withdrawal of contracts a year ago, with only hours of notice over Matariki weekend, left the agencies having to try to find other providers to care for children in trouble, and led to a damning report from the Auditor-General. At a Scrut…
New safety measures for early childcare sector
Childcare operators must report abuse within 24 hours and tighten their privacy regulations under a new safety crackdown. Federal and state education ministers have agreed to a series of measures targeting early childhood education and care. Despite the changes some experts say it falls short of what is needed.
MSN
Phone, reporting rules in child centre abuse crackdown
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