To ensure minimal disruption to affected placements, a temporary exemption has been put in place for certain types of carers whose working with children checks have been submitted but not yet finalised.
Stronger, more effective and transparent screening laws for people working or volunteering with children came into effect on 1 July 2019 – working with children checks (WWCCs).
The Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016 ensures that a person who is assessed as being of high risk to the safety of children will be prohibited from working or volunteering with them. Carers, if prohibited, will not be able to continue to care for a child or children in their care. This includes primary carers and household members including regular guests.
To ensure minimal disruption to affected placements, the Minister for Child Protection sought and received a temporary exemption for a period of 90 days from 1 July 2019 from the Minister for Human Services for the following classes of carers and household members whose WWCCs have been initiated but not yet submitted, and carers whose clearances have been submitted but not yet finalised:
- kinship carers and household members
- specific child only carers and household members
- foster carers and household members.
The exemption will be for the period of assessment and determination of an outcome for these carers.
Exemptions will not apply to any person who has been identified by the Department of Human Services (DHS) Screening Unit as a prohibited person. If a carer or household member is prohibited, appropriate alternative placement arrangements must occur.
The exemption period will allow all agencies to ensure that robust monitoring and tracking systems are in place that identify carers and household members at the 7 month mark of clearance expiry to allow applications to be submitted to the DHS Screening Unit at the 6 month mark.