I'm building FIDES to protect my daughter.

Like a lot of parents, I rely on carers to help look after my daughter. Every time someone new comes into our home, I'm trusting them with the most important person in my life. I've interviewed carers, dealt with agencies and called references, trying to work out who I could trust with her.

Then I saw how easily a carer could move on. She only had to leave me off her reference list to walk into another family's home. Nothing on any record would have shown it. The next parent would have called the referees she chose, heard good things, and handed over their child.

That's when I realised "checked" could mean almost anything: a phone call to someone the worker picked, a police check that only shows what reached a court, or nothing at all. And it's the same in aged care, childcare and disability support — each keeps its own records, so a worker can leave one sector and start clean in another.

I'm building FIDES so that doesn't happen to my daughter, or to anyone else's family. One reference history that follows a worker across every sector, built from every employer they've had — not just the ones they choose. Concerns are written down with dates and reviewed by a person, and the worker always gets to reply.

It's fair to good carers, too. Most do this work with real care, and they deserve a record that shows it and follows them from job to job. FIDES is how families, providers and carers can finally rely on the same standard.