The recent four corners investigation raising serious allegations of mistreatment and abuse in childcare centres has left many parents wondering what to do. We've asked some experts for practical advice on how parents can check the quality and safety of their early education provider.
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00:00Sending your children into the care of others can be a fraught process.
00:06As a starting place, families can check the National Register of Approved Providers and their quality rating.
00:12And looking at when that quality rating was actually assessed.
00:16So we do have instances where services are not necessarily assessed as frequently as they need to be.
00:22There are also plenty of questions you can ask a provider.
00:26Things like about the qualifications of the staff,
00:30about the program that the centre offers the children,
00:36what sort of behaviour management approaches the centre follows.
00:43Experts say it's crucial to take a tour and spend time in the centre
00:47and parents should be looking for a generally calm atmosphere and staff who are engaged.
00:52We want children to run to you, not away from you.
00:55So we want children to be sort of approaching staff and showing things
01:00and sharing things with the staff and other children in the centre.
01:03So having a fancy chef or having a fancy app, I'm not saying that those things don't matter, they do.
01:11But what matters more than anything is the relationship that your educator has
01:16and the teachers have with the children in their care.
01:19The experts agree on some red flags.
01:22It may be that you might see staff who are looking stressed.
01:28So if there's really high staff turnover, it could be an indication that it's not
01:33a particularly supportive workplace or environment for educators.
01:38If you think something is wrong at a childcare service,
01:41complaints can be made to your state or territory's regulator
01:44or for concerns about a child being in immediate danger, call 000.