Shared care · Profile worksheet

A childcare settling-in profile that sounds like your child

The form might ask for a routine. The useful detail might be that “up” means a cuddle, and the favourite book is the one with the red bus.

By The Cocoon Editorial Team · 2026-10-17 · 2 min read

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A useful starting point

A settling-in profile introduces your child’s familiar words, preferences and ways of communicating. Keep it short, date it, and use it to begin a conversation with educators. Complete the service’s required enrolment and care forms separately.

Original template · Practical example · Visual guide

The idea at a glance

Help a new caregiver get to know me

Four useful kinds of information for a settling-in conversation.

Original Cocoon visual guide. Download the infographic (PNG).

Read the visual guide as text

Familiar
Names, home languages, favourite songs and the words we use.
Comforting
What usually helps, what does not, and what we are still learning.
Communicating
How I ask for company, a pause or help. Describe what you see.
Connecting
Who to contact, what to discuss and when to update this profile.

What belongs on a one-page profile?

Choose details an educator can use in an ordinary moment. Include the name your child hears at home, how to pronounce it, a familiar song and the words your family uses for everyday things. Describe preferences without turning them into fixed rules: “often enjoys looking out of the window with an adult” leaves room for a different day.

Keep required information in the service’s own system. This page is an introduction, not an allergy action plan, permission form or replacement for an individual care plan. Ask how the service wants those documents supplied.

Turn a label into an observation

“She is difficult at drop-off” gives the next person little to work with. “She often reaches for me at the door; we have been practising a short goodbye with her educator” describes a situation. It also avoids presenting a temporary experience as a personality trait.

Write “we are still finding out” where the answer is uncertain. Educators may notice preferences you have not seen at home. Leave space for their observations rather than trying to predict the whole first week.

Bring the profile into a conversation

Raising Children Network recommends sharing information about a child’s health, wellbeing, likes and dislikes before starting care Source 1. Cocoon’s profile prompts below are an original way to organise that conversation.

Ask which details are most useful, who will be the main contact and how changes should be communicated. Agree on one place for updates so that an old printed sheet does not quietly become the latest version. Date any revision and point out what changed.

Review what actually helped

After the first few visits, look at the profile together. Keep a detail that made a real interaction easier; remove a sentence nobody used. Add the educator’s wording with their agreement. A profile can stay brief while becoming more accurate.

For general settling-in guidance, read the starting childcare guide. For day-to-day information between adults, use the separate caregiver handover card. One introduces a child; the other explains what happened today.

A fictional worked example

Give the detail a little more context

Before

“Likes books. Gets upset.”

With useful context

“At home we call her Mimi. She often chooses the bus book. At goodbye, please tell us which approach you would like us to use consistently.”

The revision gives an educator something specific to recognise and a question to answer. It does not promise that a familiar object will settle every goodbye.

Keep something useful

Getting to know me

An introduction for conversation. Complete the service’s required forms separately.

Names, pronunciation and home languages: Include the words your child hears most often.
Familiar things and ways of asking: Songs, stories, gestures and preferences you have observed.
Comfort and what we are still learning: Describe what sometimes helps; leave room for a different day.
Questions, contact and next update: Agree how updates and required care documents will be shared.

A4 PDF US Letter PDF

Infographic PNG · Scalable SVG. Print the worksheet and keep completed copies private. This page has no fields for entering personal information.

You may print and share the unmodified blank resource with attribution to Cocoon. Keep its context and source link attached.

Sources and scope

Templates, prompts, visuals and fictional examples are original Cocoon material. The references below support the specifically cited context, not the entire template. They do not endorse Cocoon. These resources do not replace individual care instructions. Editorial standards and AI-assistance disclosure.

Raising Children Network: Starting child careAustralia · Checked 2026-10-17