This holistic cross-sectoral study explored barriers and enablers to access and participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services for refugee families with three-to-five-year-old children living in Queensland, Australia. Constructivist grounded theory (CGT) methodology honoured the lived experience of participants through their words and stories. Data was obtained through interviews and focus groups with 55 participants consisting of 29 parents and 26 early childhood practitioners (ECPs) from seven community-based agencies. Findings indicate that most refugee families did not participate in quality ECEC, with key areas of exclusion being poverty, language, ethno-cultural discrimination, cultural divergence and trauma. Non-enrolment of children was indicative of systemic barriers, such as prohibitive fees. Withdrawal or exclusion once enrolled suggested that educators were not adequately prepared to work with refugees. Refugee families require services that foster culturally safe and secure environments; promote language rights; and implement trauma-informed, anti-discriminatory, culturally sustaining pedagogies.

In Australia, the Early Years Learning Framework sets out a vision for all children to experience belonging, wellbeing, confidence, and a sense of identity. This article forefronts the voices of parents with refugee experience, through focus groups and interviews, to explore why they removed their children from early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. Supplemented by interviews with early childhood practitioners and researcher experience, constructivist grounded theory overlaid with critical race theory provided a lens through which to scrutinize the way racism implicitly impacts structural practices within ECEC environments. The overarching message was that everything is framed within the parameters of the dominant culture, which was taken for granted by educators, who are predominantly White and middle class. Parents withdrew their children because they perceived care to be culturally unsafe and unsuitable and because cultural and linguistic support was rarely available. Of concern were the smothering effects of assimilation and the imposition of a foreign culture which unsettled family life. Compromised identity and the nullification of cultural and linguistic heritage left children with little or no sense of belonging.