The Residential Care Workers Register is a restricted access, centralised database. These guidance materials for agencies explain the register, its functions and requirements.
About the Residential Register
The aim of the Residential Register is to promote the safety, welfare and wellbeing of children in statutory out-of-home care by supporting the engagement of appropriate and suitable individuals as residential care workers. The Residential Register is a restricted access, centralised database of individuals who:
- apply to be engaged as a residential care worker and reach the referee check stage of the application process, and
- individuals who are referred to the provider by a labour hire agency for work as a residential care worker, and
- those individuals already engaged as a residential care worker, at commencement of the Residential Register, to provide care to children in out-of-home care in a residential setting in NSW.
Learn more about who is a residential care worker.
The below guidance notes provide an interpretation of relevant Residential Care Workers Register requirements prescribed by the Children's Guardian Act 2019 and the Children's Guardian Regulation 2022, including business rules and minimum probity checks in relation to the engagement of individuals to work in a residential setting.
Guidance summaries
These PDF summaries aim to provide an overview of the register and help agencies manage their requirements.
| General overview | This provides an overview of the Residential Register including who the Register is intended to capture, the type of information to be recorded, minimum probity requirements, consent and access. |
| Where an individual is being considered for employment to provide care to children in residential care, a number of mandatory probity checks are required to be completed. This document explains this in more detail. | |
| Relevance to foster care | This document is relevant to those agencies who are accredited to provide foster carer and explains how and when the Residential Register applies. |
| In some circumstances, agencies may seek to access staff via an external recruitment / staffing agency to fill shortages in either planned or emergency situations. This document details the considerations to such a practice. | |
| This guidance summary is written with labour hire agencies as the audience. It will be made available to designated agencies so they may provide this to external providers as part of ongoing planning when sourcing staff from such providers. | |
| Checklist for agencies | There are 3 checklists to guide and support agencies to manage the requirements of the Residential Register: 1. Checklist for agencies managing applicant residential care workers 2. Checklist for agencies managing existing residential care workers at Go Live 3. Information that may be updated on the Register after engagement |
| A quick guide for agencies on how to respond to a request from a residential care worker for information recorded on the Residential Care Worker Register. |
Responsibilities of the Head of Relevant Entity (HRE) and Primary Administrator (PA)
These quick guides summarise of the key responsibilities and actions of the PA and HRE roles within the Residential Register.
Interstate placements and the register
Sometimes a child who is under the parental responsibility of the NSW Minister for Families and Communities; Minister for Disability Services, may be living in residential care in another jurisdiction within Australia. Where this occurs, there are various obligations to be met by the designated agency who is responsible for that child. The below document aims to assist designated agencies in meeting their obligations in relation to the entry of workers onto the Residential Care Workers Register, aswell as highlight other obligations to be considered as part of supporting children in these situations.
Authorisation of emergency or labour hire agency workers
Children and young people placed in residential care must only be cared for by a residential care worker. A residential care worker must be entered onto the Residential Register and engaged by a designated agency before they can work in residential care.
If you need emergency authorisation of a residential care worker to provide statutory out-of-home care in a residential setting, you must notify us using the 72-hour exemption notification form.
These resources are to help agencies meet their obligations where residential care workers are required to provide care to a child in a residential setting in an emergency or at short notice, or at any time where a worker is sourced from an external labour hire agency.
Information for workers
This fact sheet and presentation aims to help designated agencies provide consistent information to prospective or current residential care workers about the Residential Register and describe what the introduction of the Register will mean for those working in residential care.
They include who the register is intended to capture, the type of information to be recorded, consent requirements and access.
