Respond to specific matters

Receive concerns through the National Redress Scheme

The CSAHSC manager or senior practitioner may receive information from the Redress Right to Information team, when a person who is alleged to have sexually abused a child in care may pose a current risk to a child in care, because they are:

• a foster carer, kinship carer or provisionally approved carer
• a director, nominee or staff member of a licensed  care service
  or
• having regular contact with a child in care.

The CSAHSC manager or senior practitioner will refer to the Child Safe Reporting Guidelines under the National Redress Scheme, and take the following actions as relevant:

• provide information to the QPS in line with the Child Protection Act, section 14(2) (Refer to Procedure 1 Report information to the Queensland Police Service.)
• document the information as an intake enquiry and advise the relevant CSSC (Refer to Concerns received by the Child Safety After Hours Service Centre.) 

Respond to new concerns 

New concerns during a standards of care review

When new concerns are received during a standards of care review and there is no reasonable suspicion the child has experienced harm or is at risk of experiencing harm:

• record the concerns in a new record of a standard of care consultation meeting form in Unify and select standard of care review as the recommended response
• email RCI at RCI@families.qld.gov.au with the subject line ‘Concerns received: SURNAME (of the carer or staff member)’ and advise them of the Unify ID for the new record of a standard of care consultation meeting form 
• discuss the concerns with the carer and respond to them as part of the open standards of care review.

If concerns about harm to a child are received during a standard of care review:

• immediately consult the senior team leader and senior practitioner
• email RCI at RCI@families.qld.gov.au with the subject line ‘Concerns received: SURNAME (of the carer or staff member)’ and advise them of the Unify ID for the new record of a standard of care consultation meeting form 
• tell the family based care service or non-family based care service about the new concerns and seek additional information from them and their views about the response decision (Refer to Decide the response.)
• consult the CSO for the child, if case responsibility for a subject child is with another CSSC. (Refer to Involve the child safety officer with case responsibility for another child.)

Recommend an appropriate response to the concerns. The CSSC manager will decide whether a harm report is to be recorded. (Refer to Make the decision.)

Record the information in relation to the harm in a new record of standard of care consultation meeting form in the standard of care case in Unify and select harm report in the recommended response section of the form. A harm report will be automatically created in Unify. (Refer to Assess a harm report—family based care or Assess a harm report—non-family based care.)

New concerns during a harm report assessment 

When new concerns are received during a harm report assessment:

• immediately consult the senior team leader and senior practitioner
• record the new concerns in a new record of standard of care consultation meeting form in the harm report – assessment case
• email RCI at RCI@families.qld.gov.auwith the subject line ‘Concerns received: SURNAME (of the carer or staff member)’ and advise them of the Unify ID for the new record of a standard of care consultation meeting form 
• tell the family based care service or non-family based care service about the new concerns and seek additional information from them and their views about the response decision (Refer to Decide the response.)
• respond to the new concerns during the current harm report assessment, including addressing the concerns with the child and the carer or staff member.

Propose the suspension of a carer

For a care arrangement with a carer, if the child  placed with the alleged person responsible is removed in response to allegations in a harm report assessment, and a decision made that other children will not be placed in the care arrangement until the harm report is finalised, propose to suspend the carer’s certificate of approval.

The proposed suspension is on the grounds that while the concerns are being assessed:

• the carer is not a suitable person to hold a certificate of authority or
• a member of the carer’s household is not suitable to associate with a child on a daily basis.

In these circumstances, take action as outlined in Procedure 7 Propose to suspend the certificate of approval.

For a care arrangement with a carer, if the child or children placed with the alleged person responsible are removed and other children cannot be placed in the care arrangement, the carer’s certificate of approval is taken to be suspended on the grounds that:

• the alleged person responsible is not a suitable person to hold a certificate or
• a member of the carer’s household is not suitable to associate with a child on a daily basis.

Respond when a criminal investigation is occurring

If the QPS are undertaking a criminal investigation and request that Child Safety not take certain action to assess a harm report, the harm report assessment will be put on hold until the QPS advise that either their investigation is finalised, or that Child Safety can complete the actions necessary to assess the harm report.

When a harm report assessment is put on hold, the relevant CSSC must:

• take appropriate action to ensure the safety of any child or children
• disclose information only to the extent the QPS advise is appropriate about the reasons the harm report assessment is not progressing
• advise RCI of the QPS request
• liaise regularly with the QPS about the progress of the criminal investigation, to confirm when it is appropriate to assess the harm report.

Finalise the harm report assessment 

When the QPS advise Child Safety that the assessment can contine, take action to complete the  harm report assessment.

Respond if a carer or staff member resigns before the harm report assessment is finalised

If a staff member has resigned or the carer has surrendered or not renewed their certificate of approval while a harm report assessment has been on hold, when the QPS advise Child Safety that the assessment can continue: 

• engage the alleged person responsible in the harm report assessment, with their consent, to afford them a right of reply
  and
• finalise the harm report assessment.

Escalation

In circumstances where the CSSC is unable to obtain an update on the progress of the criminal investigation, or there is concern about the period the harm report assessment has remained on hold, the escalation process will occur with relevant staff as outlined in the table below.

Concerns received by the Child Safety After Hours Service Centre

If the appropriate response to concerns received by the CSAHSC is a harm report, but no further action is required before the CSSC opens the next business day:

• refer to Record and communicate the concerns
• call the CSSC the next business day to confirm receipt of the email.

If action is required before the relevant CSSC opens the next business day, the CSAHSC will:

• seek approval for the decision to record a harm report from the relevant CSSC manager
• take the action required to ensure the child’s safety
• commence the harm report assessment within the 24-hour response timeframe
• create a standards of care case in Unify and record the actions taken
• 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 the CSSC the next business day to confirm receipt of the email.

Respond to a request to obtain or amend Child Safety records

If a carer or non-family based care service requests a copy of Child Safety information relating to a standards of care review or harm report assessment, provide the person with information about Right to Information. (Refer to Right to  information.)

If a carer or staff member asks for information in a Child Safety record to be changed, or if they ask to add information to a record associated with a standards of care review or harm report assessment:

• ask the carer or staff member to provide written advice of the amendment or additional information to be placed on file
• refer the carer or staff member to the Compliments and complaints  on the Child safety website for information about Child Safety’s complaint management process.