Child Safe Standard 4 (CSS 4) recognises that families and communities play a vital role in ensuring children's safety, rights, and wellbeing. Building strong and respectful partnerships with families helps create a culture of transparency, trust, and shared responsibility.
Parents, carers, and families have a unique understanding of their child. This includes valuable information about their strengths, abilities, interests, and challenges so the organisation can take this into account when engaging with the child. Early childhood education and care services must actively involve families in decisions that affect their children. Families should be informed about the service's child safety policies and expectations, understand how to raise concerns, and feel confident their voices will be heard.
Services should respect and acknowledge the diverse backgrounds, cultures, languages, and abilities of all families. Meaningful engagement ensures everyone has equitable opportunities to help create a safe environment.
Working with families and communities strengthens children's sense of belonging, improves communication, increases accountability, and builds extra protective factors for child safety.
To comply with CSS 4, all early childhood education and care services in Victoria must meet the following elements of the standard:
- Families participate in decisions affecting their child (4.1)
- The organisation engages and openly communicates with families and the community about its child safe approach and relevant information is accessible (4.2)
- Families and communities have a say in the development and review of the organisation's policies and practices (4.3)
- Families, carers and the community are informed about the organisation's operations and governance (4.4)
What successfully engaging families and communities looks like for a service:
In practice, a compliant and effective approach to CSS 4 involves developing partnerships with families and communities where communication is open, respectful, and ongoing.
This may include:
- providing families with ongoing access to accessible information about child safety policies, codes of conduct, and complaint procedures from enrolment onwards
- ensuring child safety information is available in accessible formats to meet the diverse needs of families
- supporting families in knowing how they can raise concerns or complaints, keeping families informed and ensuring these processes are managed respectfully, confidentially and without negative consequences
- encouraging families to provide feedback on policies, procedures and service practices through surveys, meetings, conversations, or advisory groups
- consulting with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and families of children with disability to ensure practices are culturally safe, inclusive, and accessible
- maintaining respectful and responsive communication that supports collaborative relationships between educators and families
- regularly reviewing family engagement strategies to ensure they remain effective, inclusive, and responsive to community needs
What VECRA authorised officers consider when assessing compliance with CSS 4
During visits, VECRA authorised officers may:
- review enrolment information, family handbooks, and communication materials
- examine how the service informs families about Child Safe Standards, policies, complaints processes and reporting pathways and assess whether families understand these processes
- ask educators and nominated supervisors how families are encouraged to participate in decisions affecting their child and contribute to service improvement
- review evidence of family consultation during the development or review of child safety policies and procedures
- assess whether communication methods are accessible and appropriate for families from diverse cultural, linguistic, and social backgrounds
- examine how the service asks for and responds to family feedback, including how changes have been communicated back to families
- review how the service builds partnerships with local communities and organisations that support children's safety and wellbeing
More information and resources
Further guidance on CSS 4 is available from:
- Engaging with families about child safety – VECRA
- NQF Child Safe Culture Guide – ACECQA
- Communicating with families about children’s learning – ACECQA
- Resources and support for the Child Safe Standards – CCYP
- Engagement with Families (Tip Sheet) – Department of Education
- Practice Principle Guide - Partnership with families – Department of Education
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