In light of the recent challenges faced in the early childhood education and care sector, ECA established the Rapid Response Taskforce, a team of experts in child sexual abuse prevention and safeguarding. This expanded and collaborative focus on child safeguarding aims to collate and develop a range of expert-informed resources available to education and care professionals across Australia. These resources are designed to enhance child safety practices, provide timely support, uphold the highest standards of children’s safety, and ensure ethical practices across the sector.
ECA is dedicated to supporting early childhood professionals who work with children and their families.
To keep up-to-date with ECA and the work of the Rapid Response Taskforce, sign up to our mailing list.
ECA is working with experts in child sexual abuse prevention and child safeguarding, other peak bodies, service providers and colleagues across the sector to engage in discussions with policymakers on evidence-based responses. In addition to ECA’s advocacy, we are working in collaboration with subject matter experts to collate resources for service leaders to support them during this time to improve access to professional learning on abuse prevention for educator teams.
Our advocacy
While Early Childhood Australia as peak body for early childhood continues in its advocacy to Australian governments, we also seek to affirm principled, ethical practice foregrounding children’s rights. ECA’s advocacy continues to champion for every young child thriving and learning, and access to high quality early childhood education and care whatever their circumstances and where they live. Early Childhood Australia has recognised the very real need to back in support for the early childhood profession, to acknowledge principled, ethical, quality professional practice, and to provide research-informed practical support towards capability uplift where it is needed.
Our purpose
The ECA Rapid Response Taskforce has crafted advice specifically applicable to early childhood education and care settings, carefully curating research-informed resources for early childhood professionals. The ECA Rapid Response Taskforce presents materials that seek to:
- Affirm and uphold principled, ethical practice across the sector.
- Clearly define what effective child safety and safeguarding looks like, with practical strategies for embedding and sustaining these practices across whole teams and services.
- Provide guidance to early childhood professionals in identifying risks to children’s safety and ways to mitigate these risks.
- Advocate for the consistent application of the Child Safe Principles and Practices at both service and organisational levels.
- Promote critical reflection through thoughtful engagement with materials that also provide implementation guidance.
- Champion practice that promotes the voice and rights of children.
- Articulate the characteristics of high-quality practice that foster a strong culture of safety in early childhood settings.
- Acknowledge the importance of high-quality early childhood education and care in the lives of young children and promote the professionalism and integrity of the sector.
Meet the Taskforce
Catharine has a master’s degree in early childhood education and extensive experience in the sector. She began her career as an early childhood teacher and went on to lead a range of services and projects for children and their families. Her focus is on early childhood practice, pedagogy, leadership coaching and mentorship, quality improvement, policy and governance, and delivery of integrated services to vulnerable children and families.
Catharine’s involvement in the education sector is an important part of her commitment to quality outcomes for children. She is a long-time member of ECA and regularly contributes to ECA publications, webinars and online learning opportunities. In 2022 she completed a Diploma of Governance strengthening her commitment to effective policy and governance. Catharine is also a second-tier reviewer for ACECQA
Janet is responsible for leading Early Childhood Australia’s (ECA’s) national inclusion and early intervention strategy including managing and NDIS Partner in the Community and Inclusion Support programs in the Northern Territory.
Jo is an experienced senior leader with over 20 years of expertise in early childhood education, workforce capability and educational leadership and design. Her career has centred on building the capability of early childhood professionals through the design and delivery of impactful strategies that promote safe, supportive, and inclusive practice.
Kate is the Education Project Manager at Bravehearts, overseeing teams across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania who deliver Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventure Program to children in early learning and lower primary settings. She also leads the organisation’s child protection training and resource development for educators and other professionals. Through these comprehensive programs, and with a genuine and unwavering commitment to keeping children safe, Kate and her team empower children with vital personal safety education and equip adults with the knowledge and confidence to create child-safe environments.
Katrina joined Act for Kids in 2006, became Executive Director of Services in 2008 and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in August 2020. She is a registered psychologist with more than 20 years’ experience delivering clinical and social services at the individual, organisational and community level.
Nicole Talarico 
Samantha Dellamarta is an experienced leader in the provision of services relating to the safety and wellbeing of children and young people. Her career history of direct practice, leadership and consulting roles spans a range of government and non-government agencies. Her previous role as the Senior Adviser to the Children & Young People Commissioner with the ACT Human Rights Commission provided the platform that drives her passion around institutional safety for children and young people today.
Samantha Melching is a senior leader in child protection and human services with over 17 years’ experience driving quality improvement, service innovation, and systemic change across government and non-government sectors.
Early Childhood Australia (ECA), the national peak advocacy organisation for children under eight, their families and professionals in the field of early childhood development and education. ECA was established in 1938 and works with Government, early childhood professionals, parents, other carers of young children, and various lobby groups to advocate to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years.
Sarah holds a Doctor of Education; Master of Education (Early Childhood Teaching); Master of Education; Graduate Certificate in Education (Special Education); Graduate Certificate in Education (Catholic Education); Bachelor of Education (JP/P); Bachelor of Teaching (JP).
Shae holds a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) and Cert IV in Training and Assessment. Shae is an experienced leader, with a background in educational leadership, management and training early childhood educators in both vocational and non-vocational settings.
Siobhan brings a strong understanding around learner experience and how content translates in the online environment at a self-paced mode. Siobhan has 17 years of Early Childhood experience working directly with children and has extensive experience in managing large and complex centres, mentoring teams with high expectations on professionalism, and emphasis on the importance of trusting and reciprocal relationships.
The Daniel Morcombe Foundation provides personal child safety education to children and young people at no cost, to prevent abuse and promote lifelong health and wellbeing. We support educators, parents, and carers through the provision of resources and education and directly support young victims of crime.Supportive resources
This guide brings together the best of ECA’s resources—new, contextualised and highly regarded—alongside carefully curated materials from partner organisations. It is designed to help all early childhood professionals strengthen safeguarding practices, embed a child safe culture, and ensure that children’s rights are always respected and upheld.
Download a copy of the guide below.
Children’s Safety and Safeguarding in Early Childhood Settings | Webinar
Content Disclaimer:
This webinar recording includes discussions on topics related to child sexual abuse prevention, child safety, and safeguarding. Some viewers may find this content distressing. Please consider your own mental health as you watch this recording and in the days to come.
Watch the recording of Children’s Safety and Safeguarding in Early Childhood Settings below.
Online courses
Share your insights
We want to make sure the resources we provide are as useful and relevant as possible. Take a few minutes to complete our short survey and let us know:
- what safeguarding topics you’d like to learn more about
- what kinds of resources or formats best support your practice.
Downloadable resources
ECA acknowledges the valuable contributions of the Rapid Response Taskforce, whose expertise and commitment supported the development of these resources.
Recommended resources
Educator wellbeing
ECA understands that early childhood professionals who turn up for children and families every day are shocked and saddened by this terrible offending, which is a betrayal of everything professional educators stand for. We encourage colleagues from across the sector to seek assistance as needed either from your own employment assistance program or from the following mental health and support services accessed via this link from Be You.
Curated resources
Child Safe Organisations
- About the National Principles
- National Principles for Child Safe Organisations
- Office of the Children’s Guardian NSW – eLearning courses
Act for Kids
Bravehearts
- What is Grooming?
- Protecting Children and Young People from Sexual Abuse: A Guide for Parents & Carers – Free Download
National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse
- Perpetrators and grooming
- What is child sexual abuse?
- Prevention: Keeping children safe from sexual abuse
- Indicators and impacts of child sexual abuse
- Understanding and responding to adult’s disclosure of child sexual abuse
- How to support children and young people who display, or are victims of harmful sexual behaviours
- Responding and taking action
The Daniel Morcombe Foundation
Practice examples
Many service providers have already implemented initiatives intended to improve child safety in their services. Some examples of this include:
- Child Safe Commitment (KU)
- Feel Safe: Be Safe: Protective Strategies Kit (Goodstart Early Learning)
- Safeguarding at the Y (YMCA Canberra)
Partner organisations
Early Childhood Australia is grateful for the generous support of the following partner organisations and colleagues with their breadth and depth of research-informed knowledge and expertise in children’s safety and safeguarding:
