Children's Services & Care

Most education and care services for children around Australia are now regulated under the National Quality Framework (NQF). Service types covered by the NQF are now regulated by the national law and regulations.

The National Law and Regulations will apply to education and care services for children under 13 years of age (apart from some types of services which are expressly excluded).

The types of services that will be covered are:

1) Long Day Care
2) Family Day Care
3) Preschools
4) Out of school hours care.

The following types of services will not be covered by the National Law and Regulations but they will continue to be regulated under the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 and the Children's Services Regulation 2004:

1) Home-based services
2) Mobile services
3) Occasional care services
4) ‘Budget based funded' services*

* A service that receives financial assistance under the Commonwealth's Budget Based Funding Program element of the Child Care Services Support Program but does not receive the Child Care Benefit.

A child or young person under the age of 18 is in VOOHC when:
· their parent has made an arrangement with an organisation to provide or arrange care for them; and
· they stay at a place other than their usual home overnight for one or more nights ; and
· they are cared for by someone other than a parent or relative.

VOOHC includes overnight centre based respite, host family care, residential placements and camps that provide respite or address challenging behaviour. VOOHC does not include care provided:
- by other types of camp or recreation facilities;
- by a boarding school or other educational institution;
- by a licensed children’s service;
- by a health service;
- by an adoption service;
- under the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program; or
- to a child or young person who is a carer.

The Carers Register requires designated agencies to certify that required checks and assessments of carers and household members have been conducted. The Carers Register also contains information about carer applicant, carer and household member histories that supports designated agencies sharing information about those persons.