A long record nearly blocked him from child-related work - until the tribunal looked closer
A Victorian tribunal has cleared a man with a long criminal history to work with children, finding that his past no longer made him a risk.
The ruling in UFJ v Social Services Regulator [2026] VCAT 393, handed down on May 28, 2026, is worth a look for anyone who hires into child-related roles. It lays out, in plain terms, how Victoria's worker-screening system weighs an old record against signs that someone has turned their life around.
The man, identified only as UFJ to protect his privacy, had been handed a "WWC Exclusion" - a decision that blocks someone from holding a Working With Children Clearance. In Victoria, that clearance is a legal must for paid or volunteer work involving direct contact with children. No clearance, no job in those settings.
His record was long. According to the decision, it began when he was about 13 and homeless, and the most recent offences came in July 2024, when he was around 20. In his own statement, he said that as a teenager he had sometimes got himself arrested on purpose just to get a meal and a bed. None of his offending was against children.
He wanted the clearance so he could help raise his young brother, who had been placed in his partner's care. Without it, he could not be alone with the boy or be recognised as a kinship carer. His partner had quit her job because she could not juggle full-time work with the boy's appointments and school...
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