Disagreements are an inevitable part of running any kind of service and when that service involves people's children you can be guaranteed misunderstandings and conflicts will occur. Learning how to quickly and effectively deal with parent complaints is an important part of running a successful child care service and the tips below will hopefully help you succeed:

Communication
Good communication is vital and should begin before a child is even enrolled in your service. Offering parents a written contract which outlines your service's terms and conditions will give you the opportunity to talk everything through with the parents and for them to ask questions. Make sure the document is easy to read and understand so that parents can't use 'fine print' as an excuse for not knowing something.

Taking the time to talk to parents during pick ups and drop offs will hopefully give you an opportunity to work through any small issues which arise. However it is important to be sensitive to parents and if you feel as though something is up then take the time to have a chat in a quiet corner.

Serious problems should be discussed when both parties have the time to share their views without other people around. It may be necessary to arrange a meeting at a later date to ensure the environment is conducive to a mutually agreeable outcome. Make sure you make the suggestion politely: 'I can see you are upset and we need to talk about this. It's not a good time right now but why don't I call you tonight or let's make a time later in the week to discuss this problem'.

There is a good chance that the situation may have cooled down a bit by the time of the conversation and you have a good chance of achieving a positive outcome. Encouraging parents to come to you as soon as they have a concern will also reduce the chance of a small issue escalating into a big issue.

Personal Disagreements
Taking responsibility for caring for someone else's children is a big job and there are bound to be differences in opinion about the best ways of doing things. In cases like this compromise is definitely the best course of action to pursue.

If parents come to you with a specific concern about something which is negotiable within your service's policy and which doesn't cause too much additional work then it is worthwhile trying to work out a way forward which works for the parents as well as the service.

Parents who have been thoroughly briefed about your service's philosophy and operating policies and procedures will hopefully have made the decision to sign up to your service because they agree with them. Encouraging parents to ask lots of questions at the outset and requesting them to provide details about any particular dietary needs, sleep/comfort rituals and/or personal views should also help to reduce the number of complaints you receive.

It is important to inform parents about any areas of the care offered by your service which are non-negotiable; these vary but may cover areas such as how children are disciplined, how they are encouraged to relate to each other and so on.

Serious Complaints
Complaints concerning the health and safety of children or potential breaches of standards need to managed carefully and may include complaints about:

• Services exceeding their capacity
• Staff/child ratios
• Levels of supervision
• Children's health and safety

Parents who make a complaint about any of the above should be given an immediate response. A director in need of time to investigate a complaint should make a follow up appointment with the parents as soon as he/she has had the opportunity to talk to staff.

The most effective way to handle parental complaints is to have an up-to-date policy on your service's complaints management procedure. Parents should be advised of your policy from the outset and have easy access to the information.

ACECQA recommends that each service should develop its own complaints management policy, but says that all policies should include:

• Strategies to deal with the issues quickly and professionally.
• Encouragement to raise concerns directly with the relevant party wherever possible. To avoid over complicating the process, it is always preferable to resolve the issue as close to the source as possible.
• A clear outline of the steps that will be followed at each stage of the complaint management process.
• Procedures for maintaining confidentiality.
• Processes for documenting discussions between the complainant and the service.
• Information about how a complainant can contact and raise their concerns with management if they need to.
• Procedures for keeping the complainant informed of the progress of the complaint.
• Methods for recording and evaluating the progress of the complaint. A process for evaluating the outcomes of the complaint and for providing recommendations for future policy or practice at the scheme.
• Information about the right of child care workers to seek assistance from a support person when responding to a complaint about them, for example, an interpreter.
• Details of external agencies for a complainant to contact if they feel the service has not resolved their concerns. The ACECQA website provides a list of regulatory authorities in each state and territory which can assist parents with complaints.
• Information about what is appropriate and acceptable conduct when concerns are being raised and responded to. People on both sides on the argument may become very upset and it is important that all stakeholders are aware that any type of unfair treatment, bias, aggressive behaviour or harassment is unacceptable.

Remember
There is a good chance some parents will never be completely happy with the child care service they choose and services may never see eye-to-eye with all the parents they have to deal with. Differences of opinion are unavoidable but normal and may in fact lead to improvements in how a service operates.

Complaints can't be addressed unless they are discussed openly and constructively.

Maintaining a culture of open communication and regularly updating parents about any changes to how the service operates will reduce the likelihood of your service receiving serious complaints.