Receive concerns about a child's care arrangement

When concerns are received about:

• the quality of care a child is receiving in their care arrangement
  or
• alleged harm to a child caused by
  • a child’s carer, adult household member or the staff member of a non-family based care service
    or
  • another person, and the carer, adult household member or a non-family-based care staff member’s action or inaction contributed to the harm

the information is responded to as either:

• a standard of care review
  or
• a harm report.

Child Safety will respond to a reasonable suspicion a child in care has experienced harm caused by a carer, adult household member or staff member of a non-family based care service regardless of how long ago the care arrangement was in place. 

If concerns that meet the threshold for a harm report are received by CSAHSC, refer to Concerns received by the Child Safety After Hours Service Centre.

If concerns relate to:

• harm or risk of harm to a child by a parent during family time, refer to Procedure 5 Respond to child protection concerns related to family contact
• concerns received from the Redress Request for Information Team, refer to  Receive concerns through the National Redress Scheme
• a child subject to a child protection order granting long-term guardianship to a suitable person or a permanent care order, refer to Procedure 1 Information about a child with a long-term or permanent guardian.

Engage with the notifier

Gather relevant information from the notifier including:

• whether they are making a mandatory report (Refer to the practice guide Notifiers and mandatory reporting.)
• their contact details so they may be recontacted, if needed
• details about the quality of care the child is receiving 
• details of any alleged abuse or neglect the child is experiencing and the impact of the abuse or neglect on the child (such as injury, behaviour or developmental impact)
• details of the person alleged responsible for the abuse
• whether the person alleged responsible for the abuse works or volunteers in other child related employment 
• when the concern was first identified or when the incident occurred. 

Record and communicate the concerns

Record the concerns as soon as possible in an intake enquiry in Unify. Ensure the intake enquity includes:

• the carer entity (if the concerns relate to a carer)
  or
• the staff member (if the concerns relate to a non-family based care service)
  and
• any other person alleged responsible for harm or risk of harm, including an adult household member, if relevant. 

Send 1 email with the subject line ‘Concerns received: SURNAME (of the carer or staff member)’ and include: 

• the names of the subject children
• a link to the intake enquiry recorded in Unify
• the name and contact details of each senior team leader (as below), and include their role with the child, carer or staff member

to RCI via the mailbox RCI@families.qld.gov.au and to each of the following, as relevant:

• the senior team leader in each CSSC responsible for case management of each child
• the senior team leader in the CSSC responsible for the carer
• a senior team leader in the CSSC responsible for the geographical area where the non-family based care service is located.

Telephone a senior team leader from each CSSC included in the email to advise of the concerns.

Make a report to the QPS when information is received about alleged harm to a child that may involve the commission of a criminal offence, regardless of:

• the Child Safety response
• whether the child is in care.

Refer to the Child Protection Act 1999, section 14(2) and Procedure 1 Report information to the Queensland Police Service.

Establish who is responsible for leading the response

Use the table below to establish which CSSC is responsible for leading the response to the concerns.