The Necessity of Child Care Service Agreements in Malaysia: A Legal Analysis

The Child Care Centre Act 1984 (Act 308) and The Child Care Centre Regulation 2012 are the primary regulative measures to protect children in childcare facilities in Malaysia. The aim of Act 308 is to oversee the registration, control, and inspection of the childcare centre and other related matters connected therewith. Although regulatory measures were established in Malaysia, child maltreatment in childcare centres remains alarming. The childcare regulations in Malaysia provide the guidelines for operating childcare, such as the documentation needed while running off the services, the scope of protection towards the children, offences, and penalties towards any maltreatment of the children, yet, the enhancement of the protection should be extended to mitigate childcare offences in a holistic perspective. In other countries, such as the United States of America (USA), specifically in Texas and California, the childcare agreement has become another protection mechanism practised to regulate childcare services. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is threefold: firstly, to provide insight into Malaysia’s childcare regulations and practices; secondly, to analyse the comparative country childcare regulations, agreements, and conventions; thirdly, to conduct an analysis of the needs for childcare services contracts in Malaysia being practices by using content analysis and comparative approach. As a result, the government could opt for another legal mechanism to mitigate child abuse and neglect in childcare centres to ensure the comprehensiveness of the childcare regulations in Malaysia.