Complaints processes

Complaints processes must be child focused

Your complaints handling process must:

focus on children and their safety needs
cover all kinds of complaints and concerns, including:
- alleged abuse by adults against children, and
- by children against other children.
be easy for everyone to understand - this includes families with diverse languages and backgrounds, and people with low literacy
prioritises child safety complaints
be easy to find and include who to speak to
support investigations
feed into the continuous improvement process
help the service learn from their mistakes.

Read about:

Making a complaint can be challenging

People are more likely to complain or disclose something when policies and procedures are:

clear
well-communicated.

Encourage a feedback culture at the service for everyone, including children. If people feel safe raising low level concerns with the service, then they are more likely to:

make a disclosure
report abuse.

Remember that a complaint can be an opportunity to improve, as it can:

reveal a bigger issue
prevent a situation from escalating.

Child Safe Standard 7

Read the full text of the Standard and its elements.

Early childhood services must comply with all the following elements of this Standard:
- The service has an accessible, child focused complaint handling policy which clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of leadership, staff and volunteers, approaches to dealing with different types of complaints, breaches of relevant policies or the Code of Conduct and obligations to act and report (7.1).
- Effective complaint handling processes are understood by children and young people, families, staff and volunteers, and are culturally safe (7.2).
- Complaints are taken seriously and responded to promptly and thoroughly (7.3).
- The service has policies and procedures in place that address reporting of complaints and concerns to relevant authorities, whether or not the law requires reporting, and co-operates with law enforcement (7.4).
- Reporting, privacy and employment law obligations are met (7.5).

Implement Standard 7

- Develop policies and processes that are:
  - child-focused
  - culturally safe
  - written for children at your service (under school age or school age as appropriate)
  - use visual tools such as infographics, flowcharts and other images.
- Children should be:
  - given age-appropriate material, using simplified language and visual aids such as flowcharts
  - empowered to give their views
  - consulted on complaints procedures, and
  - offered an opportunity to provide feedback on their experience.
This will be easier for school aged children attending Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) services and holiday programs.
- Make sure children know they can make a complaint about any kind of harm:
  - at the service or outside it
  - by an adult or by other children
  - including bullying or cyberbullying and all forms of abuse.
- Encourage children to raise concerns with a trusted adult if anything makes them feel uncomfortable or unsafe.
- Make sure children:
  - are protected from any risk while the investigation process is carried out (complete a careful risk assessment)
  - are heard, and that staff and volunteers take care to validate their experiences – what may seem small to an adult might not be to a child
  - are culturally safe.
Make your complaints process easy to access:
- put it on a public-facing website
- have hard copies available at the service on the notice board
- include information in the service enrolment pack
- name multiple people or positions that staff, volunteers and families can approach to raise concerns.
- Make your complaints process easy to understand for all, including children:
  - use accessible language, flowcharts or infographics
  - create translations for non-native English speakers
  - make a simplified version for children.
- Provide information on all the steps involved:
  - what to expect the service will do when responding to a complaint
  - how the service will support complainants
  - contact details for help and support services including translating and interpreting services.
- Ask for feedback on the process:
  - have an anonymous, secure suggestion box – review the suggestions regularly and act on them
  - ask children, staff, volunteers and families about their experiences making complaints
  - incorporate their feedback in your policies and the complaints process itself
  - commit to dealing with the source of the problem and follow through on this commitment.
- If a complaint or allegation is made about a staff member or volunteer, they must be:
  - treated fairly, and
  - given the right to respond to any allegations made against them.
- Your complaints policy and procedure should cover:
  - how breaches of the service’s Code of Conduct will be handled, and
  - what will happen to the staff member or volunteer while the complaint is being investigated.
- Make sure your systems and processes are confidential. Make sure that only authorised staff can access complaint records.
- Tell the person making the complaint:
  - who will be told about their complaint
  - what happens after their complaint has been investigated
  - what steps they can take if they are not satisfied with the outcome of the complaints process.
- Report back to them on the outcome of the complaint.
- Check they understand what action(s) is proposed after their complaint is finalised.
- Make sure there is a clear outcome for all complaints.
- Tell all relevant people the outcome of the complaint when it is finalised.
- Let staff, volunteers and families know they can bring a support person of their choice to any interviews or meetings related to the complaint.
- Offer counselling or support services to complainants as appropriate.
- Explain the process when the complaint is about an adult (staff member, volunteer, parent or another adult) in line with the service's Complaints Policy.
- Outline how your service will respond to harm caused to children by other children. This includes where children have displayed potentially harmful sexual behaviours.
- Specify the steps that need to be taken to make sure the process is fair for all people involved in a complaint.
- Your complaints process should include all the types of behaviour that must be reported. This includes reports to:
  - Victoria police
  - Child protection
  - the Regulatory Authority, the Quality Assessment and Regulation Division (QARD)
  - the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP)
  - the Victorian Institute of Teaching.
- Outline the responsibilities of service leaders to act on complaints and concerns about child safety and wellbeing. Make sure nominated supervisors have:
  - a detailed understanding of the complaints process
  - investigative or interviewing skills, or authorisation to engage people with these skills
  - high levels of rapport and engagement with children
  - ability to respond to children with diverse needs
  - willingness to work with police and child protection authorities
  - information about support services for people affected by complaints.
- Make sure the service meets all recordkeeping, information sharing and privacy obligations.

NQF Child Safety Guides

The two NQF Safety Guides focus on creating, maintaining and improving a child safe culture in early childhood services. They include:

information on each Child Safe Standard
case studies
questions to guide reflection
additional reading and resources.

The two NQF Child Safety Guides are the:
- NQF Child Safe Culture Guide
- NQF Online Safety Guide.
There are also additional resources:
- NQF Child Safe Culture – Self-assessment and risk assessment tool
- NQF Online Safe Culture – Self-assessment and risk assessment tool
- Child Safety incident response template – Responding to complaints, concerns, allegations and disclosures
- Reporting and Responding Schemes tool.
Download these resources at Child Safety, together with links to additional ACECQA resources about child safety.

Additional resources

The Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) have information for all types of organisations that must comply with the Child Safe Standards. This includes:
- CCYP | Resources and support for the Child Safe Standards
- CCYP | Translated resources about the Child Safe Standards
Note: information isn't tailored for early childhood services.

Possible next steps

Read more about all the Child Safe Standards(opens in a new window) in early childhood services.

Early childhood

Updated 15 August 2025

Early Childhood

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