Most mornings, an empty cubby means a sick day, a family trip or a parent who forgot to call. Once in a while it doesn’t. A child may have been left in a vehicle, or the morning plan may have broken down between two caregivers, and each assumed the other had done the drop-off. “Safe arrival” means treating every unexplained absence as a question to answer quickly, instead of something to sort out at the end of the day.
This guide covers what Ontario’s regulation requires, what a good procedure usually includes, and how to record it.
What Ontario requires
Under O. Reg. 137/15, s. 50, every licensed child care centre, and every home child care premises an agency oversees, must have a safe arrival and dismissal policy. The policy must:
- say that a child may be released only to people the parent has specified, or under the parent’s written permission for the child to leave unsupervised at a set time (s. 50 (a)); and
- set out the steps that must be taken if a child does not arrive as expected, and if a child is not picked up as expected (s. 50 (b)).
The regulation also says:
- The policy must be in the parent handbook (s. 45 (1) (c.1)).
- It must be implemented, with compliance and contraventions monitored and recorded (s. 6.1).
- You must keep a daily attendance record showing each child’s arrival and departure times, or that the child was absent (s. 72 (3)).
The ministry’s licensing manual (Part 7.10) says s. 50 is there so licensees are ready to respond when a child fails to arrive or isn’t picked up. It applies to centre and home-based programs of any length and to children of every age. Inspectors look for a written policy, evidence that staff follow it, a copy in the parent handbook, and the names of authorized pick-up people in each child’s record.
The regulation does not set a deadline in minutes, a number of calls or a script. You set the specific steps in your own policy. That flexibility is useful, but it also means your policy has to be clear enough that a new staff member could follow it on a busy morning.
What a good procedure usually includes
The steps below are common good practice, not legal requirements. Adapt them to your program and check them with your program advisor.
1. Know who is expected
You can’t follow up on an absence you haven’t noticed. Each room, or each home child care provider, needs an up-to-date list of the children expected that day. That means regular schedules, minus absences parents have already reported. When parents report absences ahead of time through a call, a message or an app, your list stays accurate and staff spend less time calling families who already told you.
2. Set a clear check time
Choose a set time after the usual arrival window to compare the list against who has arrived. Many programs use a fixed time for each room, or a set number of minutes after a child’s usual drop-off. Whatever you choose, write it into the policy so “late” means the same thing to everyone.
3. Contact the family, then the back-up contacts
When an expected child hasn’t arrived and there’s no reported absence:
- contact the parent or guardian using the numbers on file;
- if you can’t reach them, work through the emergency contacts in the child’s record (s. 70 requires these numbers to be current and readily accessible); and
- keep going until you have confirmed where the child is. Leaving one voicemail doesn’t count.
Decide in advance what happens if nobody can be reached by a set time. Who escalates? Is it the supervisor? At what point would you contact emergency services or other authorities? Put those decisions in writing so nobody has to improvise.
4. Make the roles clear
Name who does the check, who makes the calls, and who covers if that person is in ratio with a group or away. A safe arrival procedure often fails when “someone” was supposed to call. Name a role or a person for each step.
5. Close the loop
A follow-up is finished only when the child’s whereabouts are confirmed. Record the outcome. If the child turned up late, update attendance at once so your headcounts and fire-drill records stay accurate.
6. Treat dismissals the same way
The same policy has to cover a child not picked up as expected. Write down how long you wait, who you call and in what order, and what you do if no authorized adult can be reached.
What to record
A short, consistent log turns safe arrival into something you can show an inspector, and something you can learn from. For each unexplained absence, record:
- the child and the date;
- when the absence was noticed, and by whom;
- each contact attempt: time, person and number tried, and the result;
- the outcome (for example: absent and reported sick, on the way, already dropped off at another location, or escalated); and
- when and by whom it was closed.
Look over these logs from time to time. If the same families often forget to report absences, a quick reminder about how to report them can save your staff a lot of morning phone calls.
Train, practise, review
Under s. 6.1, your policies have to be actually implemented. From January 1, 2027, O. Reg. 137/15 will also require staff training on every policy the regulation requires (new s. 58 (1.1)). Include safe arrival in orientation, go over it when staff change rooms, and talk through a few “what if” situations at staff meetings. Make sure staff who open the centre early and those who cover breaks know the procedure as well as the room leads do.
How KiddieTrac helps
KiddieTrac’s Safe Arrival feature compares who is expected today with who has checked in. It alerts staff when an expected child hasn’t arrived and can place an automated phone call to the family. The parent presses 1 if the child is absent, 2 if they’re on the way, or 3 if the child has already been dropped off. Parents can also report absences ahead of time through parent app messaging, and QR check-in keeps arrival times accurate. The calls support your policy but don’t replace it. Your staff are still responsible for confirming where every child is.