Other intake matters—receive information

Receive new child protection concerns

New child protection concerns refer to information about harm or risk of harm not previously known to Child Safety about a child or unborn child who is subject to:

• an open child concern report (Refer to Open child concern report.)
• an open standard or priority response (Refer to Open safety and support response or Open standard response or Open priority response or Unborn child—standard or priority response)
• ongoing intervention. (Refer to Child subject to ongoing intervention.)

If new concerns are received, the CSO who receives the information is responsible for following intake processes and completing the intake. To do this:

• immediately contact the CSO with case responsibility to gather relevant information
  and
• if required, contact the RIS for assistance and advice about the response. 

Open child concern report

If the new concerns do not meet the threshold for a notification:

• add the notifier as an additional notifier and record the new concerns in the open intake
• inform the service provider about the new concerns, if it is an active support response
• submit the intake case to the senior team leader for approval in Unify.

If the new concerns are to be recorded as a notification:

• complete a new notification in Unify in line with usual intake processes
• submit the intake case to the senior team leader for approval.

Open safety and support response

If there is at least one child and the new concerns do not reach the threshold for a notification:

• record a new child concern report in an intake case in Unify
• contact the ASC provider about the new concerns and outcome
• submit the child concern report to the senior team leader for approval.

If there is at least one child and the new concerns reach the threshold for a notification:

• record a new notification in an intake case in Unify with either a standard response or priority response outcome
• contact the ASC and advise that new concerns have been received and request that they do not proceed with the original referral
• manually link the two notifications to the one assessment in Unify
• advise the relevant CSSC of the Unify assessment case ID
• close the open safety and support response  in Unify. (Refer to Undertake a safety and support response.)

If the notification relates to an unborn child only, and it is assessed that a safety and support response continues to be the most appropriate response to the concerns, contact the ASC provider and discuss whether they are able to continue working with the pregnant person under this response.

If the ASC provider agrees to continue working with the pregnant person:

• record a safety and support response outcome for the notification 
• provide the new concerns to the ASC in writing
• complete the relevant fields in the intake case in Unify and submit the notification to the senior team leader for approval.

If the ASC provider advise they can no longer work with the pregnant person and their family:

• return the matter to a standard response
• submit the notification to the senior team leader for approval.

Open standard response

If the new concerns are about a child who is subject to an open standard response and the new concerns do not reach the threshold for a notification: 

• contact the CSO with case responsibility or the CSSC responsible for the response to advise them of the new concerns 
• record a new child concern report in an intake case in Unify
• link the new child concern report to the current assessment by recording the Assessment case ID in the new child concern report in Unify when prompted (the new intake will then appear in the Related intakes grid in the summary tab of the assessment case in Unify.)
• advise the CSSC of the Unify ID
• consider the new concerns as part of the open assessment.

If the new concerns reach the threshold for a notification, either:

• escalate the matter to a priority response or
• continue with a standard response if
  • the new concerns do not meet the criteria for a priority response and
  • the RIS senior team leader and the CSSC senior team leader responsible for the standard response agree that a standard response continues to be the most appropriate response to ensure the child’s safety, wellbeing and best interests.

To escalate a standard response to a priority response:

• record a new notification in an intake case in Unify with a priority response outcome
• link the new notification to the current assessment by recording the assessment case ID in the new notification in Unify when prompted (the new intake will then appear in the Related intakes grid in the summary tab of the assessment case in Unify.)
• escalate the response in the current assessment case in Unify
• immediately contact the CSO with case responsibility or the CSSC responsible for the response to
  • inform them of the new notification and response timeframe
  • allow them to take any action required to ensure the child’s immediate safety
• advise the relevant CSSC the Unify case ID for the notification
• submit the new notification to the senior team leader for approval.

The CSSC undertaking the standard response is responsible for completing the priority response and assessing the new concerns. The senior team leader will allocate the new assessment to the CSO responsible for the current assessment. (Refer to Procedure 2 Undertake a priority response.)

To continue with a standard response:

• record a new notification in an intake case in Unify with a standard response outcome
• link the new notification to the current assessment by recording the Assessment case ID in the new notification in Unify when prompted
• advise the CSO with case responsibility or the CSSC responsible for the response that the new notification has been recorded, including the Unify case ID
• submit the new notification to the senior team leader for approval.

Open priority response

If the new concerns are about a child who is subject to an open priority response and the new concerns do not reach the threshold for a notification: 

• contact the CSO with case responsibility to advise them of the new concerns received 
• record a new child concern report in an intake case in Unify
• link the new child concern report to the current assessment by recording the assessment case ID in the new child concern report in Unify when prompted (the new intake will then appear in the related intakes grid in the summary tab of the assessment case in Unify.)
• advise the CSSC of the Unify ID
• consider the new concerns as part of the open assessment.

If the new concerns reach the threshold for a notification, continue the priority response. To do this:

• record the new notification in an intake case in Unify with a priority response outcome
• link the new notification to the current assessment by recording the assessment case ID in the new notification in Unify when prompted (the new intake will then appear in the related intakes grid in the summary tab of the assessment case in Unify.)
• immediately contact the CSO with case responsibility or the CSSC responsible for the response, to inform them of the new notification and response timeframe
• advise the relevant CSSC the Unify case ID for the notification
• submit the new notification to the senior team leader for approval.

The new concerns form part of the assessment.

Unborn child-standard or priority response

If the new concerns are about an unborn child only, who is subject to an open standard or priority response and the new concerns reach the threshold for a notification:

• for an open standard response, record either
  • a standard response outcome—if the current response is appropriate for addressing all of the notified concerns
    or
  • a priority response outcome—if 
    • the birth of the child is imminent
      or
    • the open assessment is a priority response.
• link the new notification to the current assessment by recording the assessment case ID in the new notification in Unify when prompted (the new intake will then appear in the related intakes grid in the summary tab of the assessment case in Unify.)
• escalate the response in the current assessment case in Unify to a priority response, if the current assessment is a standard response
• immediately contact the CSO with case responsibility or the CSSC responsible for the response to inform them of the new notification
• advise the relevant CSSC the Unify case ID for the notification
• submit the new notification to the senior team leader for approval.

The CSSC undertaking the response to the notification is responsible for assessing the new concerns as part of the assessment. The senior team leader will allocate the new assessment to the CSO responsible for the current assessment. (Refer to Procedure 2 Undertake a priority response.)

Child subject to ongoing intervention

If concerns are received for a child during ongoing intervention that do not meet the threshold for a notification: 

• record the concerns in an OI—concerns received case note and
  • clearly identify that the person providing the information is a notifier, so they are afforded protection under the Child Protection Act 1999, section 186A 
  • provide a rationale for recording the concerns as a case note 
  • record any consultation with
    • the senior team leader 
    • any other person who contributed to the decision. 
  • select all other subject children or other relevant person in the relevant parties field of the case note in Unify. This ensures that the OI—received concerns case note will appears in the person 360 record of all people selected
• immediately notify the CSO with case responsibility so they are aware of the concerns (if this has not already occurred as part of the decision making process). 

If concerns are received for a child during ongoing intervention that meet the threshold for a notification: 

• ensure action is taken to ensure the child’s immediate safety
• record a new notification with a priority response
• contact the CSSC with case management responsibility, advise them of the new intake, the response, and provide them with the Unify Intake case ID 
• submit the intake to the senior team leader for approval.

If a CSSC receives concerns about the level of care provided to a child in care, refer to Procedure 6 Respond to concerns about the standards of care or harm to a child in care.

Information about a child with a long-term or permanent guardian

If information received about a child with a long-term or permanent guardian involves an allegation of harm to a child that may have involved the commission of a criminal offence relating to the child, immediately provide the information to the QPS (Child Protection Act 1999, section 14(2)). To provide the information:

• complete a Police referral in the assessment case in Unify
• attach a copy of the child concern report or notification, if relevant, without notifier details 
• contact the QPS by phone to confirm receipt of the referral.

Refer to Report information to the Queensland Police Service and the practice guide Schedule of criminal offences.

Long-term guardianship to a suitable person

If concerns are received about a child subject to a long-term guardianship order to a suitable person, take the following actions, depending on the child’s specific circumstances.

If a child concern report is the appropriate response to the concerns:

• record the child concern report in line with usual intake processes
• advise the CSSC CSO with case responsibility and relevant senior team leader.

The CSSC CSO and senior team leader will decide whether to contact the long-term guardian to:

• discuss the concerns
• assess if additional supports may be required.

If a notification is the appropriate response, decide whether a priority response, standard response or safety and support response is the appropriate response. (Refer to Decide the intake response.)

If a child subject to a long-term guardianship order to a suitable person, or their guardian, contacts a RIS requesting support, the RIS CSO will:

• provide the child or guardian with contact details of the CSO with case responsibility
• if possible, transfer the call to the CSSC
• record a case note of the contact in the care arrangement case in Unify
• email the details to the CSSC within 24 hours.

The CSO with case responsibility is responsible for responding in a timely manner.

Child subject to a permanent care order

If information is received about a child subject to a permanent care order, decide the response in line with usual intake processes and advise the senior team leader responsible for the open care arrangement case in Unify of the response within 24 hours.

If it is decided that the appropriate response is for a notification to be recorded, the senior team leader will allocate the response in line with usual processes.

Child no longer in the care of a long-term or permanent guardian

Long-term and permanent guardians are required to tell Child Safety if the child is:

• likely to leave their care
• no longer in their care.

If such information is received, refer to either Procedure 5 Respond when the child is no longer in the long-term guardian’s direct care or Procedure 5 Respond when a child is no longer in the permanent guardian’s direct care for the specific actions required of the CSO.

Information about harm by a person who is not a member of the child's home

Child Safety does not automatically assess harm, or risk of harm to a child by a person who is not a member of the child’s home. The QPS is responsible for investigating crimes against a child by a person who is not part of the child’s home. (Refer to Report information to the Queensland Police Service.)

Consider the parents’ capacity and willingness to act protectively towards the child based on the information available, when deciding whether to record a notification, including: 

• the circumstances of the alleged harm or risk of harm—did it occur with or without the parents’ knowledge?
• the relationship between the parents and the alleged offender—will this impact the parents’ ability to protect their child? Are the parents and the alleged offender likely to have an ongoing relationship?
• the parents’ response to the child—are they willing and able to protect the child? Are they supporting the child? Do they believe the child? Do they blame the child for the abuse? 
• the parents’ protective capacity—are they refusing to take action to ensure the future safety of the child?
• whether the parents are willing, but unable, to protect the child, due to factors that could impact on their capacity to respond, for example, addiction or psychiatric illness, disability, the parents’ fear of alleged offender, or the parents’ rejection of child
• whether the child is at risk as a consequence of being unwilling to accept the parents’ guidance (adolescent/parent conflict).

Record a notification if there is a reasonable suspicion that the child does not have a parent able and willing to protect them from the harm, for example:

• when it is not known or is unclear if the parents are able and willing to protect the child or other children in the home
• if there is information to suggest that the parents may find it difficult to protect the child and other children in the home 
• if the parents are not willing to act protectively, or there is information to suggest that the parents are not able to act to protect the child or other children in the home.

Information from Queensland Health about a child’s immediate safety upon discharge from a hospital

If a Queensland Health doctor contacts the RIS or a CSSC because they have concerns about the immediate safety of a child upon discharge from a hospital:

• Record any new child protection concerns in an intake and assess in line with usual intake processes.
• Respond to the doctor, if the concerns have already been received from Queensland Health and have been recorded as a child concern report, and
  • Provide information about the Child Safety response and any referrals made to a Family and Child Connect, an Intensive Family Support service or an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Wellbeing Service.
  • Seek as much information as possible about the reasons for the doctor’s concern for the child’s immediate safety upon discharge.
  • Review the child concern report to determine whether to upgrade it to a notification based on the discussion with the doctor. (Refer to  the practice guide Queensland Health discharge escalation pathway.)
  • Collaborate with the doctor to decide what action is required to ensure the safe discharge of the child.

If, after consultation with Child Safety staff, a doctor remains concerned about Child Safety’s response and the immediate safety of a child upon discharge, they may initiate the discharge escalation pathway for a child at risk. (Refer to Procedure 2 Respond to a doctor’s concerns about a child’s immediate safety upon discharge from a hospital and the practice guide Queensland Health discharge escalation pathway.)

Factitious disorder imposed on another

Factitious disorder imposed on another (previously known as Fabricated or induced illness and Munchausen’s Syndrome by proxy), is a specific pattern of abuse where an individual fabricates or induces illness or injury in a person in their care.

If a paediatrician reports suspected harm or risk of harm resulting from fabricated or induced illness:

• gather information about
  • indicators that have triggered the current suspicions
  • pending and previous medical assessment or treatment
  • any immediate safety issues for the child
  • other agencies already involved with the matter, including the QPS
• inform the senior team leader of
  • the details of the concerns
  • the suspicion that the harm may be the result of fabricated or induced illness
• immediately provide the information to the QPS
  • using a Police referral, including relevant attachments in line with the Child Protection Act 1999, section 14(2) and (3) 
  • even if the notifier states that they have advised, or will advise, the QPS of the allegations
• attach the Police referral to the intake in Unify
• complete the intake case.

Information about serious injury to a child

In line with the memorandum of understanding between Child Safety and the OPG, advise the OPG as soon as possible, or within 1 business day, if information is received about serious injury to a relevant child staying at a visitable location. 

Provide the information by emailing and telephoning the relevant regional visiting manager. (Refer to the OPG—Regional Visiting Manager contact details.)

A relevant child is a child subject to any of the following interventions:

• a temporary assessment order 
• a court assessment order
• a temporary custody order
• a care agreement
• a child protection order.  

A child staying in a visitable location includes a child in a care arrangement with a foster or kinship carer, a residential care facility, including supported independent living, a boarding home, mental health facility and detention facility.

Information about a child’s death

If information is received about a child’s death:

• gather sufficient information to decide the appropriate intake response
• assess the safety of any other child in the home. 

The CSAHSC is responsible for managing and recording all initial information received from the QPS about reportable deaths. If the QPS contacts a RIS with information about a reportable death, the RIS will transfer the call to the CSAHSC.

The CSAHSC will:

• gather information about the circumstances of the child’s death
• provide the QPS with any child protection history regarding the child and their family
• assess whether there is a reasonable suspicion that any other child in the family is in need of protection
• record the information in an intake case in Unify
• complete a Critical incident report. (Refer to theCritical Incident Reporting policy and the Critical incident report management system—guidelines for users.)
• notify Systems and Practice Review of the death
• request a child protection history check from Data Management Services, including interstate child protection history, if requested by the QPS
• advise the relevant CSSC, as required.

If information that a child has died is received from a notifier other than the QPS, the RIS will:

• take the action outlined above 
• report the death to the QPS if the child was a child in care 
• record the information and
  • identify the deceased child as an other child not a subject child
  • add the date of death to the child’s profile.

To decide the intake response, gather information about:

• the circumstances of the child’s death
• whether there is a reasonable suspicion that any other child is in need of protection.

If child protection concerns are reported in relation to the deceased child’s sibling, any other child or unborn child within the home:

• record the child as a subject child
• record the child protection concerns in line with usual intake procedures.

Information about a reportable offender

If information is received that indicates a reportable offender may be posing a risk of harm to a child:

• contact the Officer in Charge of the local CPIU
• request information about
  • the nature and recency of the convictions 
  • the risk to the subject child.

A reportable offender is defined in the Child Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2004, section 5, as:

• a person who has a conviction recorded for a reportable offence, and
• is sentenced to either
  • a detention order 
  • a supervised order. 

The Child Protection (Offender Reporting and Offender Prohibition Order) Act 2004 requires particular offenders, who have been convicted of committing sexual or other serious offences against children to keep the QPS informed of their whereabouts, and other personal details, for a period of time:

• to reduce the likelihood that they will re-offend 
• to assist in the investigation and prosecution of any future offences they may commit 
• and for other related purposes.

Reportable offenders must notify the QPS if they:

• have unsupervised access to a child for three days or more within a 12 month period
  or
• reside in a household for three days or more where a child resides. 

The QPS is required to report the information to Child Safety if they decide that a reportable offender may pose a risk to a child:

• with whom they reside
  or
• with whom they have unsupervised contact.

Information about a child in another jurisdiction

Alert—address unknown

If concerns are received about a child who is residing at an unknown address interstate or in New Zealand (another jurisdiction), make every effort to locate the child and family in line with procedures under the Information Sharing Protocol between the Commonwealth and Child Protection Agencies. (Refer to Record an intake with no identifying information and Procedure 2 Take action if a child and family cannot be located.)

If an address remains unknown and: 

• the child and family are believed to be residing in another jurisdiction
  and
• the information is to be forwarded to that jurisdiction for an appropriate response
  • record the information as an intake enquiry 
  • instigate an alert by
    • completing an Interstate Alert/Notification from Queensland form
    • email the alert to the interstate liaison team at DChS.interstatealert@csyw.qld.gov.au.

The alert will be sent electronically to the other jurisdiction by:

• the interstate liaison team
  or 
• the CSAHSC staff (if the alert needs to be sent after hours).

Encourage the notifier to also contact the other jurisdiction directly:

• ACT        1300 556 729
• NSW      132111
• NZ            00116499123820
• NT           1800 700 250
• SA            131478
• TAS         1300 737 639
• VIC         131278
• WA           08 9223 1111

Notification of child protection concerns—address known

If child protection concerns are received for a child who is not living in Queensland, or Child Safety is intervening with a family and they move to a known address interstate or in New Zealand forward the information to the other jurisdiction for an appropriate response.

Notify the other jurisdiction by:

• recording the information received as an intake enquiry in Unify
• completing an Interstate Alert/Notification from Queensland form 
• emailing the intake enquiry and the Interstate Alert/Notification from Queensland form to the interstate liaison team at DChS.interstatealert@csyw.qld.gov.au.

Encourage the notifier to also contact the other jurisdiction directly:

• ACT        1300 556 729
• NSW      132111
• NZ            00116499123820
• NT           1800 700 250
• SA            131478
• TAS         1300 737 639
• VIC         131278
• WA          08 9223 1111

Information from another jurisdiction

Alerts

Another state, territory or New Zealand may contact Child Safety to request that an alert be raised in Queensland, if:

• the child's whereabouts are not known
  and
• the child or family is believed to be in Queensland.

The  other jurisdiction will send the request electronically via DChS.interstatealert@csyw.qld.gov.au. These requests are processed by the interstate liaison team or CSAHSC staff.

The CSAHSC manager and senior team leader are responsible for ensuring alerts are:

• responded to in line with relevant policy and procedures 
• recorded in Unify, if applicable. 

Notifications

If another jurisdiction receives concerns about a child living at a known address in Queensland, that jurisdiction will forward the concerns to the interstate liaison team.  The interstate liaison team will forward the information to the relevant RIS.  

The RIS CSO will:

• complete a search of Connect for Safety, if relevant
• seek an interstate child protection history check, if there is information to suggest child protection history is held by another jurisdiction (Refer to Procedure 2 Request interstate or overseas child protection history.)
• assess and record the information in line with usual intake processes.

Information from the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia

Notification under the Family Law Act 1975

Under the Family Law Act 1975 the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia have a mandatory obligation to report certain information to Child Safety which includes:

• child abuse
• family violence  
• risk of child abuse or family violence. 

Notification made by a parent or party to proceedings

The Notice of child abuse, family violence or risk is a mandatory form that must be completed by all parties to parenting proceedings.

The notices are received at Data Management Services (via email at DMS_FORM4@communities.qld.gov.au).

Data Management Services will forward the notice to the relevant RIS. The RIS will:

• assess the information 
• decide the response in line with usual intake processes, including whether information has previously been received
• complete the intake in Unify and record the informant (not the court) as a mandatory notifier  
• inform the family law court of the intake response by
  • completing the Response to Notice of Child Abuse, Family Violence or Risk letter 
  • forwarding the letter to the relevant family law registry. 

Where there is a current intervention with the family (open assessment or ongoing intervention), DMS will also include the relevant CSSC and case owner into the email forwarded to the RIS.

Where the child’s address is not recorded on the notice, DMS will make enquiries and check with the court for a record of the address. If no further information is available, DMS will advise the RIS to contact the relevant legal representative for this information.

Where the child’s address is unknown, DMS will make enquiries to determine if there is a recent address in Unify (within the last two months). If there is no recent address recorded, DMS will use the applicant’s address (or applicant’s solicitor’s address) and will advise the RIS to contact the relevant legal representative for this information.

If the forms lack detailed information, the RIS CSO will contact the legal representative who filed the notice (see Part A) and:

• request a copy of the material referred to in the notice
• obtain as much background information as possible, including
  • the status of family law court proceedings 
  • any orders which may have been made 
  • the Indigenous status of the child and family members (where this is not already included in response to question 5 of the notice).

In deciding if the information reaches the threshold for a notification, the RIS will consider that:

• a parent who reported the concerns or appears to be protective may be willing, but not able, to protect the child from harm due to the provisions of an existing parenting order
• a court may decide who the child lives and communicates with—if so, when making the order, the court must consider how child protection and family violence issues are to be addressed    
• the court will not assess the notified concerns as it has no investigative function
• without an assessment by Child Safety, the court will be bound by the principle of what is in the best interests of the child. 

Notification made by a person performing duties or functions under the Family Law Act 1975

A specified person may include: 

• the Independent Children’s Lawyer 
• a court child expert
• a family counsellor
• a family dispute resolution practitioner 
• a judicial officer. 

A staff member who initially provides information verbally, should confirm the concerns in writing as soon as practicable.

The RIS will assess and respond to the information from the staff member in line with usual intake processes. A written response to the court is not needed. 

Information via an Integrated Justice Information Strategy email alert

Data Management Services will send an automated email alert to the relevant RIS via the management team group email, containing either:

• an IJIS notification (criminal court matter alert), notifying details of a subject child’s first scheduled appearance in a criminal court proceeding
• an IJIS electronic transfer of court result (ETCR) alert, advising of the need to run an IJIS ETCR report in Unify to access details of a criminal or domestic violence court result involving a subject child.

Integrated Justice Information Strategy notification (Criminal court matter alert)

The court matter alert email will be forwarded to the RIS, if:

• a notification recorded on the subject child is awaiting approval by the RIS senior team leader in Unify
• the notification has been approved and the assessment has not been assigned to the relevant CSSC assessment team in Unify.

If a RIS receives the IJIS notification before the notification is finalised, the RIS senior team leader will:
view the criminal court matter alert email

• allocate the notification to the relevant CSSC senior team leader for assessment
• forward the criminal court matter alert email to the CSSC responsible for the assessment.

Integrated Justice Information Strategy electronic transfer of court result information

The IJIS Electronic transfer of court results (ETCR) delivers court results from all Queensland criminal and civil jurisdictions to the CSSC with responsibility for a subject child. The subject child is identified as the primary person of interest, and information may also be received about secondary persons of interest, who may not have an existing person profile in Unify.

DMS receives an ETCR if a child is matched in the court result as being subject to an open assessment or ongoing intervention case (excluding support service cases). 

DMS receives the ETCR client information and sends an automated email alert to the relevant management team. A RIS will receive the email if the notification has been approved and the assessment has not been allocated to the relevant CSSC assessment team. Details about the court matter are accessed via the running of an IJIS Electronic Court Results report in Unify.

After receiving an ETCR report:

• Check the information against existing court details in Unify about court dates, outcomes and people named, and update Unify records as needed.
• Gather further information from relevant sources, such as the QPS or OCFOS, if required.
• Make sure the information is recorded in Unify. If the information is already recorded, check it is accurate and update as needed—the ETCR report will remain accessible in the Unify reports tab.
• If the information indicates new harm or risk of harm to the child, record the information in line with usual intake and assessment processes. 
• Make sure a person profile exists in Unify for each child or adult who has a significant relationship with the subject child. 
• Attach the ETCR report to the relevant case in Unify.

Information from Centrelink

Centrelink (part of Services Australia) may contact Child Safety via email to the local RIS to request information to inform their assessment of a child’s eligibility to receive a special benefit payment.

If the child is subject to Child Safety intervention, the RIS will provide Centrelink with details of the CSO and CSSC with case management responsibility. 

If the child is not subject to any current Child Safety intervention, the RIS will advise Centrelink of this. 

If a Centrelink employee has concerns about a child, they must report the concerns to the local RIS.

If the concerns do not reach the threshold for a standard or priority response, the CSO and Centrelink employee will jointly consider if other support can be provided to the child. For example, the child may be eligible for special benefit payments.

If the concerns do reach the threshold for a standard or priority response, the CSSC responsible for the assessment has an obligation to notify Centrelink of the assessment outcome and proposed actions. (Refer to Procedure 2  Finalise a standard response and Finalise a priority response.)