18 OctInformation sharing and how to access Child Link

Posted on 18 Oct 2023

Early childhood services may opt in for early access to Child Link, a key enabler of the information sharing reforms.

The information sharing reforms remove barriers and make it easier for Victorian early childhood professionals to access information across the entire service system.

The reforms consist of three complementary parts:

  • the Child Information Sharing Scheme (CISS)
  • the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme (FVISS) and
  • Child Link.

Early childhood professionals can use CISS and FVISS to share vital knowledge to promote children’s wellbeing or safety, or manage and assess the risk of family violence. This builds on early childhood professionals’ existing practice of sharing information to manage risks to children and encourages collaboration with other services.

Child Link

Child Link is a key enabler of the information sharing reforms. It shows limited but critical information, including a child’s participation in Victorian early childhood services and schools.

Early childhood professionals with access to Child Link will be able to view key information about each child in their service, amplifying their ability to meet the objectives of the information sharing schemes (CISS and FVISS). This assists professionals to:

  • make more informed decisions about the wellbeing, safety, and support needs of a child in their service
  • better identify risks and vulnerabilities and provide the necessary support to prevent any escalation of harm
  • encourage cross-service collaboration to facilitate more holistic support around a child
  • provide support earlier by linking together information from across services
  • facilitate smoother transitions between early childhood and education services by responding to gaps in participation.

Early access to Child Link

The Victorian Department of Education invites early childhood services that wish to access Child Link in early 2024 to complete this expression of interest form Expression of Interest Form for Child Link Access – Early Childhood by Friday, 8 December.

Early childhood teachers in services delivering funded kindergarten programs are eligible to become Child Link Users. To become a Child Link User, all teachers must first complete a 2.5-hour training session. We will provide more information about training requirements when we respond to your expression of interest.

Find out more

For further enquiries, contact:

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