Rebuilding Trust in Early Childhood: Why Child Safety Requires More Than Policy and What It Demands of Leadership
- Sarah Moore
- Aug 4
- 5 min read
By Sarah Moore, Leadership Coach & Communication Mentor
Right now, early childhood education is sitting inside a trust crisis. The recent stories emerging across the media have deeply shaken public confidence. Families are understandably anxious. Educators are carrying a heavy emotional toll. And leaders, often stretched and unseen, are being called to steady the ship while the waters rise.
The conversation about child safety is front and centre, as it should be. But in too many spaces, it’s being held through the lens of compliance, reaction, or fear. We rush to reassure, we issue statements, we print new policies. And yet still, something doesn’t settle.
Because the thing that families and communities are really looking for right now isn’t just another protocol. It’s trust. And trust doesn’t come in a document. It’s something we create, in every moment, in every interaction, in every conversation we lead.
This is where strong, relationally attuned leadership becomes not just valuable, but vital.
The Neuroscience of Trust and Why It Matters Now
At the heart of this moment is a deeply human need for psychological safety. The neuroscience is clear: when we feel safe, our brain releases oxytocin, the hormone that supports learning, empathy and connection. But when safety is disrupted, cortisol floods our system and we shift into survival mode.
This biological reality plays out in our services every day. A child acts out because they’re scared. A parent questions everything because they’re unsure who to trust. An educator stays silent in a team meeting because they don’t feel safe to speak.
These are not surface issues, they are signals that trust is missing. And they require a leadership response that is grounded, emotionally intelligent, and brave enough to meet people in discomfort.
Leaders who understand the neuroscience of trust know this:
Policies alone won’t bring us back to safety.
Relationships will and it is something that the vast majority of services know to be true.
Strong Leadership Creates the Conditions for Safety
Child safety is not just about ratios and supervision. It’s about culture. And culture is shaped by how leaders lead.
When leaders are present, reflective, and relational, they create a ripple effect. Educators feel steadier. Families feel reassured. Children feel held. But when leadership is reactive, unclear, or overwhelmed, it shows, not just in decisions, but in the unspoken energy of the service.
Leadership in this moment means:
Being a calming presence when others are in fear.
Creating space for questions, not just providing answers.
Modelling transparent, human communication, even when you don’t yet know the solution.
Holding your team accountable with compassion, not control.
Being willing to say, “Let’s reflect on how this feels.”
This kind of leadership isn’t loud. It’s anchored.
It knows that trust is not a one-time achievement, but a daily practice and that how we speak, listen, and respond matters just as much as what we say.
Leading With Trust When You’re Under Pressure
One of the greatest challenges for leaders right now is that they, too, are navigating immense emotional weight. Many are managing risk, holding anxious teams, communicating with families, and trying to remain calm while constantly being pulled into the urgent.
In these moments, it’s easy to default to compliance. To pull out the checklist. To tighten control.
But this is exactly when we need to pause and return to presence.
Because leadership, especially in early childhood, is deeply relational. And in the current climate, families and educators are not just seeking answers. They are seeking you, your steadiness, your humanity, your ability to say, “We’re in this together.”
When we lead from a reactive place, we inadvertently signal to others that they are not safe, that something is wrong. But when we lead with openness, curiosity and care, we send a different message entirely: you are held here, even when things feel uncertain.
This is not soft leadership. This is conscious, strategic leadership, the kind that cultivates long-term trust and wellbeing for your whole community.
Trust Is a Culture, Not a Statement
One of the myths that still lingers in our sector is that child safety is something we “address” when an issue arises. But leaders who understand relational safety know that trust must be embedded, not as a single conversation, but as an everyday practice.
That means child safety isn’t only something we talk about with new families or during audits. It’s in how educators are onboarded. It’s in how we talk at team meetings. It’s in how we handle mistakes, feedback, and conflict. It’s in whether our staff feel seen, whether our children feel heard, and whether our families feel welcome to ask the “hard” questions without fear of judgement.
Building this culture is not the job of one leader alone. But leadership sets the tone. And the tone you set matters.
In her work on Conversational Intelligence®, Judith E. Glaser reminded us that every conversation either opens or closes the space for trust. That’s not metaphor, that’s neurobiology. When we listen with empathy, when we communicate with clarity, when we check our tone, we shift the neurochemistry of the space around us.
And when enough leaders do this, the culture changes, not through pressure, but through presence.
A Call to Leadership
This moment in our sector, as challenging and uncomfortable as it is, is also an invitation.
It’s an invitation to reclaim the heart of our work. To understand the deep neuroscience of trust, and build systems that honour it. To walk alongside our teams and families with clarity and care, not just when everything is going well, but when things are messy, emotional, and uncertain.
Because the truth is, trust won’t be rebuilt by the loudest voice or the thickest policy manual.
It will be rebuilt in quiet conversations, consistent actions, and cultures where people feel safe enough to tell the truth.
And the leaders who are willing to do this work, the relational, reflective, emotionally intelligent work are the ones who will not only protect children, but hold the future of our sector with the integrity it deserves.
This is your work. This is our work.
And it matters more now than ever.
Sarah Moore is a leadership coach, communication mentor and coach, supporting leaders across Australia to build trust, navigate complexity, and create emotionally safe cultures in early learning environments. Her work blends neuroscience, Conversational Intelligence®, and sector experience to support sustainable leadership growth from the inside out.
Comments