Delivery and Collection of Children

1. Overview

1.1. Purpose

Junior Adventures Group (JAG) People have a duty of care to children to ensure that the delivery and collection of children from the program will promote a safe and smooth transition between the education setting and home. Our policies and procedures are in place to protect children from harm and hazards, including preventing the entry of unauthorised people.

1.2. Scope

All JAG People are required to comply with the practices set out in this policy, their contract of employment and all other relevant policy and legislation.

1.3. Legislative Requirements

Under the Education and Care Services National Regulations, JAG is required to have policies and procedures in place to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of the children in care.

2. Policy Statement

We are committed to the safe delivery of children to and from our service. All staff will follow JAG processes and practices to ensure that the transition into and out of our service is completed safely and that the duty of care to children in attendance at our service is met.

3. Principles

3.1. Duty of Care

Team Members have a duty of care to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of children attending the Service. The health, safety and wellbeing of children at our service are our first priority. Our policies, procedures and continuous communication with family and Authorised Nominees ensure that children are safeguarded during delivery and collection at our service.

All staff are responsible for following policies and procedures to keep children safe and ensure that delivery and collection practices are followed. Service Leaders are responsible for ensuring that policies and procedures are followed.

3.2. Working with Families

We highly value and respect families’ choices about their children. We are guided by them on who is authorised to pick up their child/ren.

The transition of children to and from the Service requires particular attention, particularly given how busy it can be at certain times and the volume of people entering and exiting the Service. Families must ensure that authorised nominee are aware of the designated entry and exit points for sign in/out.

Junior Adventures Group Services request that families inform the Service prior to the start of session of absences to assist in streamlining our collection process to ensure and maintain the safety and wellbeing of children a priority.

3.3. Working with the School

The service will establish and maintain a positive relationship with the school to ensure the duty of care is upheld by all parties involved.

Safeguarding children during their delivery to, and collection from, the service premises can be enabled by collaborative partnerships with the school and clear handover processes, including outlining duty of care responsibility throughout the delivery and collection process.

Where specific arrangements have been made between the Service and the school, children may be accompanied to and from their class by a team member or school representative.

3.4. Authorised Nominees

Authorised Nominees must be over the age of 18. Changes to Authorised Nominees’ details must be provided to the Service. Authorised Nominees must carry photo ID and be willing to produce it when requested by JAG People.

Authorised Nominees may be contacted where the parent or guardian has been delayed and requested to collect children by the Service closing time.

3.5. Leaving the Service

Children are permitted to leave the Service premises when:

● they are given into the care of the parent, an Authorised Nominee recorded in the child’s enrolment, or a person authorised by the parent or Authorised Nominee

● the Service has been provided with written authorisation to leave from their parent or Authorised Nominee

● they are taken on excursion or transportation provided by the Service with written authorisation from their parent or Authorised Nominee

● they are given into the care of a person or taken outside of the premises because they require medical, hospital or ambulance care or treatment or due to another emergency.

3.6. Our Team Members

Our Service leaders play a vital role in leading good practice at our service and are the point of call for staff and parents when an issue during delivery or collection needs to be resolved. All staff are provided with the necessary training, knowledge and ongoing team support to perform their duties effectively.

3.7. Refusal of Collection

If a team member does not consider the person who has requested to pick up a child/ren from the Service to be authorised to collect the child or they are not in a fit state to take responsibility for a child/ren, they will exercise their duty of care and refuse access to the adult, retain the child at the Service and notify the child’s/children’s parents or carers. Refer to the Families Code of Conduct and our incident reporting process.

3.8. Our Records

JAG People will follow JAG processes and practices to ensure that the presence and absence of children are accurately recorded daily to meet relevant legislative requirements and assist with daily program management and record keeping. Relevant information is held on the child’s file in a secure information management system and is accessible only to staff who need to access the information to perform their duties.

Court orders (including parenting orders or parenting plans) are provided to the Service and are stored with the child’s enrolment information.

Record keeping to ensure the safe delivery and collection of children and the relevant legislative requirements includes:

● child’s name, date and time of arrival at the Service and departure time

● signatures by the nominated person delivering and collecting the child/ren from the Service

● records determining who the Authorised Nominees are to deliver and pick up the child, as well as other relevant information about complex family dynamics, court orders and changes to families’ circumstances will be collected, recorded and communicated to relevant staff to keep children safe and to respond to families

● checking that children have been correctly signed in and out

● checking people at entry against the child and nominee details

● ensuring unauthorised people are not entering the Service.

3.9. Court Orders and Collection of Children

Many families have shared parenting arrangements. Both parents have lawful authority of their children and are consequently permitted to remove children from the Service’s care unless a Magistrates Court or Family Court make different orders prohibiting contact with the child. Prohibited Persons will not be permitted to enter the Service or pick up children from the Service. Court orders must be provided to the Service and will be stored with the child’s enrolment information.

If a court order is in place for a family, the enrolling parent or guardian must notify the Service Leader and provide a current court order. Where things change, the parent or guardian must immediately advise the Service.

If the enrolling parent or guardian wishes to grant permission for an unauthorised person to collect a child, they must provide an updated court order (where applicable) and written permission, including the day and date the child is to be collected. The child’s enrolment form must be updated to reflect the changes to the circumstances.

Where a non-enrolling parent or guardian cites an Order of the Family Court giving them lawful access to the child, the court order needs to be produced for inspection by an educator before the child is released into their custody.

If a court order exists, the educator must ensure that the child only leaves the Service with the parent/guardian or Authorised Nominee who has custody as stated in the court order.

If a team member is unsure about the circumstances, they must contact their Line Manager immediately for guidance.

3.10. Transportation of Children between the Service and School

JAG may provide a bus or people mover to transport children from other schools to the Service where applicable. For details relating to the transportation of children, refer to our Safe Transportation of Children Policy.

Educators authorised to drive a bus or people mover will hold a valid full driver’s licence for the class of vehicle being operated and will carry it at all times while using the vehicle. They must be

over the age of 21 years. JAG has systems and processes in place to ensure that licences are current, and employment contracts require staff to notify their manager if there is a change in circumstance (e.g., loss of licence).

Risk assessments and checklists will be completed before the operation of any vehicle. In determining the required educator-to-child ratio for the transportation of children, the provisions outlined in the completed risk assessment are considered.

3.11. Late Collection

We understand that, from time to time, parents or guardians may be late in picking up their children. Parents and guardians are provided with a Key Service Information sheet upon enrolment. This outlines agreed information about service provision, including late fees that will apply where a parent or guardian collects their child/ren from the Service after the Service closes.

Parents, guardians, and nominees are asked to notify the Service if they are going to be late for collection time. This is of particular importance to enable staff to reassure children.

Should a parent/guardian be consistently late to collect their child/ren, the family may be asked to seek alternative care.

The late collection fee is not subject to Child Care Subsidy.

3.12. Failure to Collect a Child/Children

In the event a child is not collected from the Service by the Service closing time, team members will attempt to contact all authorised persons using the contact details contained in the enrolment form.

Where there is no response from the authorised persons, and the child has not been collected within 30 minutes of the Service closing, authorities will be contacted. The duty of care will be handed over to the relevant emergency services.

Once the police have been notified, team members will refer to our policies and procedures for contacting child protection authorities regarding the abandonment of a child.

3.13. Risk Management

Services will conduct a comprehensive risk assessment every 12 months and promptly following any significant changes in circumstances. Team members will work collaboratively with families, children, and schools to ensure service-specific transitions are implemented, with particular attention to the unique needs of children below school age and children with specific needs. The Standard Arrangement for transitions between the OSHC service and school, will be confirmed between a School Representative and the Service Leadership team. Risk assessments will encompass various aspects, including supervision, delivery and collection of children by authorised nominees, environment, processes, standard arrangements with the school, as well as emergency and risk mitigation, considering the developmental stages, interests, and abilities of younger children and children with specific needs. The safety and well-being of all children, including those below school age and those with specific needs, will remain a top priority throughout the risk assessment process.

3.14. Supervision

Team Members ensure that supervision of children is maintained throughout the delivery and collection process. Where variance from standard arrival and departure occurs, Team Members must ensure that adequate supervision is maintained while resolving the situation. Team Members must seek guidance from their line manager immediately, or as soon as reasonably practical to ensure that proper intervention and process is effectively implemented.

3.15. Child Safety

Policies and practices reflect the relevant legislation, including the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. JAG provides policies and procedures to support and equip people with the knowledge, skills, and awareness to keep children safe. These practices are continuously reviewed and improved to ensure up to date practices are in effect throughout the business.

4. Key Terms

Authorised Nominee:

• A person, over the age of 18 years old, appointed by the enrolling parent/guardian or family member to collect the child from the care of the service. This person must be fit for duty of care responsibility and identified upon arrival to the service.

Court orders:

• A court order is a parenting arrangement (parenting order) that can be enforced in a court; these orders can be either by consent or imposed by the court

JAG People:

• Any adult that governs, manages, conducts work for, or provides activities and/or services to, JAG in a paid or unpaid activity spanning all levels of the organisational structure

Line Manager:

• The persons in the direct supervisory role overseeing the work of the particular JAG person; the JAG persons escalate matters toward the person in this role, in the event of incidents and breaches

Prohibited Person:

• Any person, including a parent of a child or young person or any person who is not a party to the care proceedings, in accordance with such terms as are specified in the order, prohibited from doing anything that could be done by the parent in carrying out their parental responsibility (i.e., a parent named in court orders as having no rights to contact or parenting responsibility for the child/ren).

Service Leader:

• Anyone who oversees the Service in one of the following roles:

  1. The Approved Provider; if the approved provider is an individual, in other cases, a person with management or control of the Service

  2. The Nominated Supervisor of the Service

  3. A Responsible Person who has been placed in day-to-day charge of the Service in the absence of the Nominated Supervisor.

Shared parenting arrangement:

• A custody agreement between parents in which the care of the children is essentially equal between them; details of collection times and locations and individual and shared responsibilities are contained within such agreements

Team Member:

• JAG People who work directly with children.

5. References

Education and Care Services National Law and Regulations

Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010

Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011

https://www.acecqa.gov.au/nqf/national-quality-standard

Family Law Act 1975 (FLA)

Other Relevant Legislation

Section 165 – Offence to inadequately supervise children

Section 167 – Offence relating to protection of children from harm and hazards

Section 170 – Offence relating to unauthorised persons on education and care service premises

(applies to an education and care service operating in a participating jurisdiction that has a working with children law)

Section 175 – Offence relating to requirement to keep enrolment and other documents

Regulation 86 – Notification to parents of incident, injury, trauma and illness

Regulation 98 – Telephone or other communication equipment

Regulation 99 – Children leaving the education and care services premises

Regulation 100 Risk assessment must be conducted before excursion

Regulation 101 Conduct of risk assessment for excursion

Regulation 102 Authorisation for excursions

Regulation 102AAB Safe arrival of children policies and procedures

Regulation 102AAC Risk assessment for the purposes of safe arrival of children policies and procedures

Regulation 102C Conduct of risk assessment for transporting children by the education and care service

Regulation 102D Authorisation for service to transport children

Regulation 122 Educators must be working directly with children to be included in ratios

Regulation 123 Educator to child ratios

Regulation 157 – Access for parents

Regulation 158 – Children’s attendance record to be kept by approved provider

Regulation 160 – Child enrolment records to be kept by approved provider and family day care educator

Regulation 161 – Authorisations to be kept in enrolment record

Regulation 167 – Offence relating to protection of children from harm and hazards

Regulation 168 – Education and care service must have policies and procedures

Regulation 170 Policies and procedures to be followed

Regulation 171 – Policies and procedures to be kept available

Regulation 172 – Notification of change to policies or procedures

WA only - Delivery to and collection of children from the education and care service (Regulation 99 and 168(2)(f). Approved providers in WA must ensure the service has a policy about the delivery and collection of children that is consistent with the procedures for ensuring children’s safety set out at section 165A of the National Law (WA).

Related Policies

Staff Supervision of Children

Incident, Trauma, Illness and Injuries

Transport

Child Safe Environments

Transport

Related Procedures

02P002 Delivery and Collection of Children Procedures

02P003 Absent and Missing Children Procedures

02P011 Extra-Curricular Activities Procedures

02P012 Transport Safety Procedures

07P012 Risk Assessment Procedures

Other

Quality Area 2, 6: Standards 2.2, 6.1

OCG Guide to Child Safe Standards - https://ocg.nsw.gov.au/child-safe-scheme

CCYP Child safe Standards - https://ccyp.vic.gov.au/child-safe-standards/

National Principles for Child Safe Organisations - https://childsafe.humanrights.gov.au/national-principles

Version

4.0

Change History

Change Register

Date Approved

27/11/2023

Date Implemented

27/11/2023

Document Owner

Quality Service Department

Document Approvers

CEO/Approved Provider

Next Review

12 Months