Compliance in Quality Area 6

Under Section 175 of the National Law, when being assessed on standards 6.1 Supportive relationships with families and 6.2 Collaborative partnerships, your service may need to provide evidence around:

• how the service identifies the individual education and care requirements of each child and their family and seeks to build their capacity to respond to each child’s specific requirements

• professional development that supports responsiveness to each child’s specific requirements and inclusive practices

• how the settling-in process is tailored to meet the needs of individual children and families

• the provisions made to support families during the enrolment and orientation process

• how information is gathered from families to support continuity of care between home and the service

• meetings and/or communication between the service, families and centre-based service

Services should ensure families are supported from enrolment to be involved in the service and contribute to service decisions. The National Regulations also require services to provide certain information to families.

Reg 76: services must give information about educational programs to parents on their request, including:

(a) information about the content and operation of the educational program so far as it relates to that child

(b) information about the child’s participation in the program

Some helpful tips:

• When sharing information with families, remember to consider factors such as accessibility, cultural and linguistic diversity and access to the internet and smartphones. You may need to share information in different ways to ensure it is accessible to all.

• Build connections in your area to find out what local resources might be available to your service. You may be able to help families access additional services by linking up with a local library, charity or allied health service. This is particularly relevant when supporting children with additional needs as families may need help accessing a diagnosis or further assistance.

• Reflect on the way you build relationships with your families from the beginning of their time with your service. Involve families in this reflection through orientation and exit surveys.
  

• Build relationships with local schools to support children and families in their transition to school. Consider ways of involving schools at your service, such as hosting information sessions with school staff or attending school orientations.

• Seek input from families to involve them in service decisions, ensuring that their views and input are respected. You can trial a range of feedback methods to see which best suit the needs of your individual families, and all feedback should be logged and considered in service decision making.