We believe that the safety of our children is paramount, which is why CareforKids.com.au only represents "registered" child care services and nannies / babysitters who have been vetted and safety/police checked through agencies.

The new Working With Children Check will start in NSW in 2013 (date to be advised), which aims to address some of the gaps in terms of vetting who has access to our children with ID checks and processing applications being managed by the RTA.

The NSW Commission for children and young people who maintain the WWCC has postponed the new checks coming into place due to feedback from Care providers. This means there may be some further changes to the proposed new NSW Working with Children check (please see below for contact details if you wish to offer feedback to the Commission).

However, even though child care services themselves may be vetted, many other people who work with children or people working in child care services may not be checked.

Under the checks, a person who has been convicted or found guilty of a listed serious offence against children (whether in NSW or elsewhere) is prohibited from child-related employment. Anyone registered under the Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000 is prohibited from child-related employment.

It is an offence for prohibited persons to apply for or attempt to obtain, undertake or remain in child-related employment in any capacity, whether paid, volunteering or self employed.

Employers must ask all preferred applicants for child-related employment to declare that they are not a prohibited person, using the Applicant Declaration and Consent or, for volunteers who do not need to be Checked, the Volunteer/Student Declaration.

There can only be two results – a clearance or a bar. People with a bar may not work or volunteer in child-related roles. However there is a huge responsibility on the part of organisations and the community to verify checks.

Under the new check:

• Workers and volunteers will apply for their own check once every five years (at a cost of around $80)
• Employers will verify a child-related worker's or volunteer's clearance number
• The same working with children check will apply to everyone – paid workers, self-employed people and volunteers
• Everyone with a clearance will be continuously monitored for serious sex or violence offences
• Nannies will be phased in by September 2013

The new NSW WWCC only checks individuals nationally every five years and only monitors NSW wide throughout the five years, so there is plenty of room for people to fall through the gaps within this time frame.

Annemarie Sansom, Director of Night Nannies Australia recently attended one of the information sessions on the new Working With Children Check. While the new checks definitely have benefits to organisations and parents, she reports that there are some gaps which may be concerning to parents.

She said: "From an Agency owner perspective there are definite positives and I am now adding in additional checks to ensure we are covered. As a Parent I definitely have concerns in relation to the sporting groups, church groups and Scouting group Leaders".

The following are not required to undertake a check:

• Handymen or tradies temporarily painting in a Centre or place where there are children
• Scout Leaders, Sports coaches, Church groups and team leaders unless overnight care/camps are involved
• Family friends or neighbours who a parent has asked to watch their child
• Volunteers for a short term work or community activities such as playing Santa

Sansom says that each candidate will be given a number for life and families will be able to log in to the website and check if an individual's check has expired or if they have been barred.

"The Department of Education has the full five years to comply, but Church groups are separate and able to set up their own registration systems following the new legislation", she says.

As well as the gaps in who's being checked and who's not, Annemarie Sansom also has concerns that the check is not being monitored nationally except every 5 years.