Children’s safety, health and wellbeing is our key priority. Early Learning Victoria also recognises the important role of families in supporting a child’s education journey.
1. Scope
This policy applies to children, families, staff, management and visitors of Early Learning Victoria centres. This includes volunteers, students on placement and contractors or labour hire employees of Early Learning Victoria.
2. Policy statement
Each parent of a child under 18 years of age has parental responsibility for the child unless this has been varied by a court order or agreed by the parents in a written parenting plan. If the parents are separated or the child does not live with their parents, Early Learning Victoria centres must request copies of relevant court orders, parenting plans or evidence of informal care arrangements from parents or carers, and may make reasonable enquiries with parents and carers about those orders and arrangements from time to time.
Early Learning Victoria centre staff must try to avoid becoming involved in parent disputes about decision making for children. Subject to consideration of any risks to safety, centres are encouraged to have processes in place that provide each known parent of a child and each parent of a child with joint parental responsibility the opportunity to participate in major long-term decisions that affect their child.
Centres can have processes in place that provide for only one parent to make day-to-day decisions that affect their child. If a child’s parents are unable or unwilling to care for them, and there is no court order providing another person with parental responsibility, informal carers who have provided the centre with a completed Informal Carer Statutory Declaration may make day-to-day decisions for the child.
Centre directors and Early Learning Victoria staff can seek legal advice about particular circumstances and court orders from the Department of Education’s Legal Division on 03 9637 3146 or legal.services@education.vic.gov.au.
2.1 Requirements
Decisions about day-to-day issues
Subject to any court orders, either parent is able to make day-to-day decisions that affect their child without consultation with the other parent. Early Learning Victoria centres can have processes in place that provide for only one parent to be contacted about a day-to-day decision affecting the child. Day-to-day issues could include but are not limited to:
- non-attendance on a particular day
- consent to participate in an excursion
- consent to consult with wellbeing staff or counsellors
- consent to leave early to attend an appointment
- child collection on a given day
- consent to administer prescription or non-prescription medications.
Where parents are separated and children live between two households, a parent or carer who is spending time with the child on a particular day is able to make day-to-day decisions that affect their child on that day.
Decisions about major long-term issues
Early Learning Victoria centres are encouraged to have processes in place that provide each known parent of a child or, if there are court orders, each parent with parental responsibility with the opportunity to participate in major long-term decisions that affect their child.
Centres need not contact a parent with parental responsibility where the parent’s contact details are not known to the centre or if contacting the parent may put the child or another person’s safety or wellbeing at risk, for instance where there may be a risk of family violence.
Where parents are separated and there is a court order for parents to have “joint parental responsibility” for a child, parents are expected to consult with one another and make a genuine effort to come to a joint decision. The law does not require others to ensure that both parents have consulted with each other and come to a joint decision.
A decision made by only one parent or carer in the absence of a contrary view or communication from the other parent or carer is usually sufficient consent.
Disputes between separated parents or carers
Whenever faced with a dispute between persons who are responsible for making decisions for a child, Early Learning Victoria centre directors and staff must try to:
- avoid becoming involved
- avoid attempting to determine the dispute
- act neutrally and not adopt sides
- act in the best interests of the child involved
- act in the best interests of the centre community.
Early Learning Victoria centre staff can inform parents and carers that centres are not the place to resolve disputes. Parents and carers are encouraged to reach agreement about arrangements for their children away from the centre and without seeking to involve staff.
Where parents or carers need assistance to resolve disputes, they can be referred to the Family Relationship Advice Line, to family dispute resolution or to a lawyer or legal service.
Other decision-making arrangements
Informal carer arrangements
When a child’s parents are unable or unwilling to care for them, the responsibility often falls on relatives or significant others to take care of the child. Sometimes this care is provided on an informal basis and does not give the carer any legal status over the child or formal recognition as a carer.
In these circumstances, to allow these carers to work with an Early Learning Victoria centre, carers can be asked to complete an Informal Carer Statutory Declaration (PDF, 158KB). This is a written declaration by the carer that sets out the care arrangements for the child. If carer circumstances change, centres must obtain an updated statutory declaration.
Generally, an informal carer who has provided the Early Learning Victoria centre with a completed Informal Carer Statutory Declaration may make decisions for the child as set out in this policy and may access centre information ordinarily provided to a parent.
Note however that a decision of a parent with parental responsibility overrides any decision made by an informal carer to the extent of any inconsistency.
Formal carer arrangements
Where a child is in out-of-home care following an intervention by the Department of Families Fairness and Housing (DFFH), a child protection order may grant parental responsibility for a child or the day-to-day care of a child to someone other than the parent(s) of the child. This can include to the Secretary of DFFH, a family member, a child’s long-term carers, or jointly to the Secretary of DFFH and the parents. Centre directors can request copies of any child protection orders from DFFH under the Child Information Sharing Scheme. Where there are protection orders in place, the centre director must ensure the centre retains a copy of the orders and updates the child’s records to reflect any impact of these orders on care arrangements, contact between the child and the parents or decision-making responsibility for the child.
Where a child protection order grants parental responsibility for a child or care of a child to the Secretary of DFFH, an authorisation may be issued to the carer in order to enable them to make decisions about the child. The types of decisions that a carer is authorised to make for the child are specified in the authorisation and will generally include day-to-day decisions about education and routine medical care.
Carers are responsible for providing Early Learning Victoria centre staff with a signed instrument of authorisation and for providing up-to-date information relating to any changes in care arrangements. Centre directors and staff can ask for a copy of the authorisation whenever they are aware a change has been made.
2.2 Legal Background
Parental responsibility encompasses all of the duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which, by law, parents have in relation to children and includes the responsibility or authority to make decisions about their child. Each parent of a child under 18 years of age has parental responsibility for the child, unless that parental responsibility is varied by a court order or agreed by the parents in a written parenting plan.
Where there is a court order for parents to have joint parental responsibility for a child, parents are expected to consult with one another and make a genuine effort to come to a joint decision about major long-term issues. The law does not require others, such as centre staff, to ensure that both parents have consulted with each other and come to a joint decision. Types of court orders that can change parental responsibility are parenting orders made under the Family Law Act 1975, usually by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, and child protection orders made by the Children’s Court of Victoria in cases brought by DFFH under the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005.
Family Violence Intervention Orders made by the Magistrates Court of Victoria do not change parental responsibility for a child.
3. Actions and procedures
3.1 Responsibilities of families
Parents and carers are required to provide Early Learning Victoria centres with up-to-date information and documentation about parental responsibility including relevant court orders, parenting plans or informal care arrangements.
Parents and carers are requested to reach agreement about arrangements for their children away from the Early Learning Victoria centre and without seeking to involve staff. If parents are unable to reach agreement about arrangements for their children, they should seek support from the Family Relationship Advice Line or family dispute resolution or a lawyer or legal service.
4. Resources
Legislation and standards
- Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006
- Children, Youth and Families Act 2005
- Family Law Act 1975
- Family Violence Protection Act 2008
Related policies
- Protecting children policy
- Acceptance and refusal of authorisation policy
Links
Definitions
Parental responsibility: All of the duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which, by law, parents have in relation to children.
Parenting orders (also known as Family Law Act orders): Court orders made pursuant to the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) and may deal with any of the following issues:
- person with whom the child is to live
- the time a child is to spend with another person
- communication a child is to have with another person
- the allocation of parental responsibility
- any aspect of the care, welfare or development of the child.
Protection orders: Court orders made pursuant to the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic) upon protective intervention by DHHS Child Protection. There are various types of protection orders including:
- family preservation orders
- family reunification orders
- care by Secretary orders
- long term care orders
- permanent care orders.
Updated