You must not work with children unless you have had a Working with Children Check within the last 5 years.
It is an offence to work with children without a Working with Children Check.
Your organisation's paid employees or volunteers may require a Working with Children Check if they work in a prescribed position.
An employer can only employ, or continue to employ, a person in a prescribed position if:
Employers who do not comply with these requirements are guilty of an offence.
A prescribed position includes:
A person who works in a prescribed position must have a Working with Children Check.
A person will work with children if they are:
An adult residing in:
is someone who works with children and requires a Working with Children Check.
A person who
is someone who works with children and requires a Working with Children Check.
A person who, in the course of their employment:
works with children and requires a Working with Children Check.
The following services and activities are child-related work.
Accommodation and residential services for children include:
Child protection services include:
Childcare or child-minding services include:
Clubs and associations that provide services or activities and have:
are doing child-related work.
Clubs and associations include a reference to a body (whether or not incorporated and however described) providing services or undertaking activities of a sporting, recreational, cultural or artistic nature.
Coaching or tuition services for children means services provided to children consisting of instruction in one or more of the following areas:
and includes coaching or tuition services provided in the course of any other service or activity that is defined as child-related work under the Prohibited Persons Act.
Commercial services provided directly to children include:
For the purposes of commercial services provided directly to children only – person will be taken to have contact with a child if:
Education services include preschool, primary and secondary education, but not tertiary education.
If you are a registered teacher, you must have a working with children before you can renew your teacher registration. If you have a current, valid DCSI/DHS child-related screening, you can use it until expires. You then need to get a Working with Children Check.
The South Australian Department for Education also has requirements for people who work at:
Find out more at Department for Education ‘About working with children checks’ web page
Emergency services incudes the provision of services by:
that involves regular contact with children
For the purposes of provision of services by members of SAMFS, SACFS and SASES only, a person will be taken to have contact with a child if:
Emergency services incudes the provision of services by:
Health services for children include
The Prohibited Persons Regulations define justice and detention services for children to mean the exercise of a power or function under the:
Training centre means a facility for the reception, detention, correction and training of youths who offend against the criminal law established under the Family and Community Services Act 1972 or the Youth Justice Administration Act 2016.
Transport services for children mean a ‘prescribed passenger transport service’. This is a service in which:
This includes:
Traffic control services means the provision of traffic control at, or other supervision of, school pedestrian crossings.
Services or activities provided by religious organisations means services or activities provided by or on behalf of a religious organisation in the course of which an employee of the religious organisation has, or would reasonably be expected to have, contact with a child.
A reference to a religious organisation includes a reference to an organisation of, or providing services of, a spiritual or pastoral nature (however described).
For the purposes of services or activities provided by religious organisations only.
A person will be taken to have contact with a child if:
Any person providing, for example a child-care service or health service for children, where in the ordinary course of their duties it is reasonably foreseeable that they will work with children will require a Working with Children Check.
You do not need a Working with Children Check if the work you are doing is for a personal or domestic service.
Working alongside or supervising a child does not make the work child-related.
If any of the child-related services or activities described on this page are provided for a personal or domestic service, you do not need a Working with Children Check.
For example: If a grandparent, aunt or uncle listens to their grandchild, niece or nephew read, or provides care to that child while their parent is at work or on an evening out, they do not need a Working with Children Check.
‘Personal or domestic services’ do not cover the following circumstances where a relative, including a grandparent, aunt or uncle:
For example: If an eight-year-old were placed formally in the care of her aunt, the aunt would require a Working with Children Check. In this situation, the aunt is the child’s approved carer. Even though the aunt is closely related to her niece, and the care she provides is personal and domestic, she must still get a Working with Children Check because she is an approved carer. Similarly, the aunt’s partner must have a Working with Children Check because they live with the aunt, who is an approved carer.
A service or activity does not become child-related work just because:
A person who works in the same position as, or employs or supervises, a child in the workplace, where the work is not child-related work does not require a Working with Children Check.
Example: If an adult works alongside or supervises a child at a local fast food outlet or supermarket, they will not need a Working with Children Check, because working at a fast food outlet or a supermarket is not child-related work.
If an adult works alongside or supervises a child at a local childcare centre or a crèche at a local gym, they will need a Working with Children Check, because working at a childcare centre or crèche is child-related work.