A licence under Part IX of the Lukautim Pikinini Act 2015 is the beginning of the obligations, not the end.
Section 68
(1) The Office shall cause to be established such minimum standards as may be considered necessary or proper from time to time, and shall be stated as such, for the benefit of children in early childhood care and development centres, and in out-of-home care.
(2) A person in charge of a licensed place shall comply with the minimum standards, or with any reasonable direction by the Office to ensure compliance.
(3) A failure to comply may result in the suspension or revocation of the licence.
The Act does not state the standards; it requires the Office to establish them and to state them as such. That allows them to be updated without amending the statute.
The Council’s power under section 17(k) to approve guidelines for out-of-home care centres, early childhood care and development centres and foster care homes, and the Office’s power under section 13(h) to introduce standard operating procedures and other guidelines, are the vehicles.
A person running a centre must therefore obtain the current standards from the Office. They are not in the Act, and they change.
Section 69 — qualifications
(1) A person employed in an early childhood care and development centre, and out-of-home care licensed under this Part, shall be qualified as prescribed from time to time by the Office.
(2) A person who fails to comply may have his licence suspended or revoked.
Section 69(2) puts the licence at risk. It is the person in charge who must ensure that everyone employed meets the prescribed qualifications.
Note the related disqualifications elsewhere in the Act: a person convicted of an offence against children cannot sit on the Council (s 16(6)) or a Provincial Council (s 24(7)), and section 85 makes false representation as an employee an offence.
Section 70 — register and daily log
(1) The person in charge shall keep a register in the prescribed form for each child enrolled.
(2) The register shall be produced at all reasonable times on demand by the Office, and may be examined, and copies of entries made if the Office thinks fit.
(3) The person in charge shall keep a daily log of every child attending the centre in the prescribed form.
(4) Failure to comply is an offence. Penalty: a fine not exceeding K5,000.00 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both.
A register records who is enrolled. A daily log records who is actually there on a given day.
That is what allows the Office to check the maximum number of children specified on the licence under section 66(5)(c)(ii), and it is the record that answers the question that matters most in an emergency: which children were present?
The K5,000 or two-year penalty is substantial for a record-keeping offence, which reflects how central these records are to everything else in Part IX.
Section 71 — who may take a child out
(1) No child may be removed from an early childhood care and development centre without the approval of the parent of the child or a person authorised by the parent — except under the emergency protective powers.
(2) No child may be removed from an out-of-home care centre without the approval of the Office — except under the emergency protective powers, or in accordance with sections 73 and 74.
(3) Failure to comply is an offence. Penalty: a fine not exceeding K500.00 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or both.
| Type of centre | Whose approval | Exceptions |
|---|---|---|
| Early childhood care and development centre | The parent, or a person the parent authorises | Emergency protective powers |
| Out-of-home care centre | The Office | Emergency powers; ss 73 and 74 |
A child at a day centre has parents who are exercising parental responsibility — so the parent controls collection.
A child in out-of-home care is usually there because the Office placed them, often after removal. The parent’s approval would defeat the placement, so the Office must approve.
Section 72
(1) A Child Protection Officer may at any time enter a licensed centre and inspect it and the children present, and the person in charge shall afford all reasonable access and support.
(2) The Office shall conduct an annual inspection and determine whether the centre continues to comply with its licensing standards.
(3) A fee determined by the Council is charged for the annual inspection; (4) the Director may waive it.
(5) The inspecting officer may be accompanied by a health inspector, a police officer, and a building inspector, or any of them.
Two features stand out. Inspection may be at any time and without notice, and it extends to the children present as well as the premises — so a Child Protection Officer may see and speak with the children, consistent with section 5(1)(l). And subsection (5) recognises that the risks in a centre are not only welfare risks: a building inspector and a health inspector may be needed to assess the premises themselves.
Section 75 separately requires the person in charge of a licensed place to give immediate notice of the death of a child to the nearest police station and the Office, and section 76 requires notices under this Part to be in writing and, unless delivered personally, sent by registered post.
Sources
- Lukautim Pikinini Act 2015 — ss 5, 13, 15–17, 24, 63–76, 85
Before relying on anything here, read the current text of the Marriage Act (Chapter 280) and check for later amendments. If a decision matters to you, get advice — start with the Office of the Public Solicitor, or find a firm in the law firms directory.