News and resources from the Office of the Children's Guardian Out-of-home care Directorate - August 2025
Out-of-home care Directorate update
We recently attended a workshop with the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, regarding the current and future functions of the Commission. The National Commission has been established to promote and protect the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people through strategic policy advice and reports to government on matters affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people and their families.
We presented at the Official Community Visitor induction session for new staff. This is a great opportunity for us to share our regulatory approach and outline how our organisations share information to support the well-being and safety of children and young people in care.
Code of Practice
The Code of Practice Implementation Handbook supports agencies to understand the new accreditation criteria which will come into effect on 1 October 2025.
The handbook outlines:
- the 8 practice requirements against which agencies will be assessed
- how we assess compliance and evidence we may seek
- the accreditation process and pathways
Resources to support implementation of the Code of Practice
We are developing a suite of resources to complement the Code of Practice Implementation Handbook.
Resources for Practice Requirement 5 are now available. This practice requirement is about ensuring that people who work with and care for children are suitable and supported. The resources cover recruitment through to ongoing support and supervision of staff, carers and residential care workers. There are videos and podcasts to support the sector's understanding of what we look for during assessment and monitoring, including a special podcast series from the CRWMT on the Registers.
Other information and resources available include an overview of the Office of the Children's Guardian, our functions, transition to the Code of Practice and information on how we accredit and monitor designated agencies and adoption service providers.
Feedback on the Code of Practice resources
We are interested to hear from agencies about their experiences using the Code of Practice resources.
We hope to gain an understanding of what has been useful, how agencies are using the resources, what needs to be clearer and what other resource are needed. We will continue to consult and build the resources over time so your feedback is appreciated!
NAIDOC Family Fun Day
We proudly took part in AbSec's NAIDOC Family Fun Day at Marrickville PCYC, which is one of Sydney’s major events celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
We were thrilled to host an OCG stall promoting our work on building child safe organisations and sharing information about the Working with Children Check. It was a great opportunity to connect directly with families and communities in a vibrant and positive setting. We had some fun giveaways, including footy stress balls and colouring-in bags, along with a glitter hair spray station that added extra sparkle to the day.
The day featured live performances, art and craft workshops, food stalls, and games - all celebrating Indigenous heritage and creating space for community connection.
Carers and Residential Workers Monitoring Team - important reminder
Exemptions under the Reportable Conduct Scheme - The Reportable Conduct Scheme requires agencies to notify the OCG where a reportable allegation has been received about an employee. This includes an authorised carer or a residential care worker. If the individual is recorded on the Carers Register (CR) or Residential Care Workers Register (RCWR), the allegation must be recorded on the Register. After receiving the 7-day notification from a designated agency, the Reportable Conduct Directorate (RCD) may apply an exemption to the agency specific to the individual matter.
The details of the exemption will be included in the correspondence provided by the RCD. If an agency is unsure about what the exemption means, they should reach out to RCD for clarification. If an exemption has been applied, this means the allegation has been deemed in jurisdiction and this must be recorded on the CR or RCWR.
Further detail can be found in the RCWR business rules and CR business rules.
Quarterly statistics on the registers
Sector reports, resources and events
National Child Protection Week 7-13 September 2025
Every conversation matters—but words alone are not enough. This year’s National Child Protection Week theme, ‘Every conversation matters: Shifting Conversation to Action,’.
NAPCAN have a range of webinars, events and kits for organisations can register for and use to promote child protection week.
LINKS Training and Support
LINKS Training and Support provides a range of evidence-based training for carers and out-of-home care professionals in NSW. Training is FREE for carers and staff.
The training sessions include:
- healing from trauma
- problematic and harmful sexual behaviours (PHSB)
- understanding and supporting children and young people through placement changes
Care for Kids NSW (formerly My Forever Family)
Carers for Kids NSW supports children and young people by recruiting and training their carers, with the goal of improving experiences and outcomes for families. We are funded by the NSW Government and operated by Adopt Change.
If you have any questions please contact us:
Phone: (02) 8219 3796
Email: accreditation@ocg.nsw.gov.au
Web: www.ocg.nsw.gov.au
