Record the outcome and tell the Child Safety Service Centre or Regional Intake Service

Record a limited intake response

To record a limited intake response:

• Complete the Limited intake response form, providing a clear rationale for the response.
• Forward to the senior team leader for approval.
• Store a hard copy of the limited intake response form at the RIS or CSAHSC, attaching all relevant notes and documents.
• Enter a record of the limited intake response in iDOCS.
• If the notifier is from a SCAN team core member agency, advise them of the intake response and the rationale.

Record intake information

Record all intake information in ICMS, with the exception of a limited intake response. (Refer to Record a Limited Intake Response.)

To record intake information in ICMS:

• Create an intake event and include person records for: 
  • each subject child
  • parents
  • all other people living in the household
  • any relevant person not living in the household,
  • an unborn child (always record the unborn child’s first name as ‘Unborn’ and the surname as ‘the mothers surname’) if relevant, regardless of:
    • the gestational period
    • whether the pregnancy has been confirmed. 
• Record each child or unborn child as a subject child or other child. (Refer Record subject child or other child.)
• Record relationships for all persons in the event.
• Record the following for each person:
  •  Indigenous status
  •  cultural status
  •  relevant health, disability or mental health information. 
• Record the notifier’s identity in the notifier field of the intake form. Do not identify the notifier elsewhere, in order to protect their identify in line with the Child Protection Act 1999, section 186A
• Record all relevant information provided by the notifier, focusing on:
  • harm or risk of harm to the child
  • information about the child, family relationships, community, culture and existing supports
  • family strengths and protective factors
  • relevant contextual information. 
• Include any direct information about the alleged harm or risk of harm to the child or unborn child.
• Record an analysis of any child protection history.
• Record information in a way that clearly explains the: 
  • family composition
  • context
  • decision-making process that has occurred.
• Record other actions taken, including:
  • reporting a matter to the QPS, if relevant
  • providing feedback to a notifier or SCAN team core member agency representative
  • providing information about Victim Assist Queensland, if relevant. (Refer to Information and advice.)

Store any hard copy documents, including handwritten notes made during the intake phase or paper-based information provided by a notifier, on the child’s paper file.

Attach relevant documents to the intake event in ICMS.

The CSSC senior team leader and management team will monitor the pending allocation tray in ICMS.

Record subject child or other child

Record each child who is the subject of concerns (the subject child) in an intake event in ICMS. If concerns are received about a child in a household where other children or a pregnant woman resides:

• Consider the information received and the family’s child protection history.
• Identify if the concerns relate to any other child or unborn child.
• Record any identified child or unborn child as a subject child.

Record a child as an other child in an intake event if:

• it is decided that the concerns do not relate to a child who resides in the harm household, after careful consideration of cumulative harm and harm that is not able to be observed
• concerns are received about an adolescent and their infant. Record two intake events so the protective needs of each individual subject child can be separately assessed. In one intake event, record the adolescent as the subject child and the infant as other child. In the other, record the infant as subject child and the adolescent as the parent
• a child who was present in the harm household when harm occurred, does not reside there and has a parent able and willing to protect them from future harm. Note—This does not refer to the situation where a young person chooses to stay at a location where they are at risk. In that circumstance, the assessment is about the parents ability and willingness to protect the child and the parent’s household is the harm household
• two families reside in the one household and concerns relate only to the children of one family
• concerns are received about a subject child aged 10 years or older, who is also alleged to be responsible for harm to a sibling. Record two intake events so the protective needs of each individual subject child can be separately assessed.  Record the child as subject child in the event relating to their protective needs and other child in the event about the sibling’s protective needs.

Record an intake enquiry

To record an intake enquiry in ICMS:

• Create an intake event and include all relevant person records.
• Complete the intake form and select the intake enquiry outcome.
• If relevant, forward all relevant information to the QPS using the Police referral. (Refer to Report information to the Queensland Police Service.)
• Forward the intake form to the senior team leader for approval.

The RIS or CSAHSC is not required to provide intake enquiry information to a CSSC.

Record a child concern report

To record a child concern report in ICMS:

• Create an intake event and include all relevant person records.
• Complete the intake form, including the screening criteria.
• Complete the pre-notification check section in the intake form, if relevant.
• Immediately provide all relevant information to the QPS, where applicable. (Refer to Report information to the Queensland Police Service attach the Police referral to the intake event.)
• Attach relevant documents in the event, including email correspondence and referrals to Family and Child Connect.
• Finalise the child concern report and forward it to the senior team leader for approval.
• Ensure feedback is provided to the notifier, if applicable.

If a child concern report is recorded for a child who is also a subject child in:

• a recent investigation and assessment event that has been closed in ICMS for less than 30 days
  and
• an ongoing intervention event has not been opened in ICMS,

before the child concern report is approved:

• the RIS senior team leader will advise: 
  • the CSSC senior team leader responsible for approving the investigation and assessment
     or, if unavailable,
  • the CSSC senior team leader currently responsible for investigations and assessments.  
• The CSSC senior team leader will advise the RIS senior team leader whether they consider a notification is the appropriate response, taking into account:
  • the new concerns received
  • their recent knowledge of the child and family’s circumstances
  • the completed assessment and outcome
  • consideration of cumulative harm.

If a RIS records a child concern report on behalf of another RIS, refer to Advise another RIS or CSSC of the response.

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—received concerns case note in ICMS, 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.
  • If the concerns relate to siblings, ensure the case note is a shared document available in each child’s ongoing intervention event   
• 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 a CSSC receives concerns about the level of care provided to a child in care, refer to Procedure 6 Respond to concerns about a child's care arrangement.

Record a notification

To record a notification in ICMS:

• Create an intake event and include or create relevant person records.
• Create and complete an intake form, including:
  • the screening criteria and response priority assessment
  • the notification section and the notification category (If both a child and unborn child are subject children, record the notification category as unborn.)
  • the pre-notification check section, if relevant.
• Finalise and forward all relevant documents to the senior team leader for approval.

Then provide feedback to the notifier, if applicable.

Record one notification if:

• the concerns relate to one harm household
• all subject children reside, either full-time or part-time in the household, including where multiple families reside together.

The senior team leader will decide on a case-by-case basis if more than one notification is required about the same matter. Examples of matters where two notifications are required include:

• A child is residing across two households due to shared custody arrangements, and there is concern that harm or risk of harm is occurring in both households. (Two investigations and assessments will be completed.)
• There are concerns about significant harm occurring to children at a household where one child resides and another is visiting. Neither set of parents is acting protectively. Both households are recorded as harm households, with separate notifications. 

Each notification will be sent to the CSSC in the geographical area of the harm household.  If two notifications about the same matter are to be investigated by two CSSCs, the CSSCs will collaborate to complete the investigation and assessments and to minimise the impact on both households.

Approve a notification

The senior team leaderwill approve the notification in ICMS within the following timeframes, starting from when the decision is made to record a notification: 

• 24-hour response timeframe—24 hours
• 5-day response timeframe—3 business days
• 10-day response timeframe—5 business days.

Transfer an open investigation and assessment

Once the notification is approved, transfer the open investigation and assessment to the pending allocation tray of the relevant CSSC within the timeframes outlined above. 

The relevant CSSC is:

• the CSSC in the geographical area where the child lives, or
• the CSSC in the geographical area where the harm has occurred, if a child lives across 2 households.

For an investigation and assessment with a 24-hour response, the RIS will also telephone the CSSC senior team leader to tell them of the response required.

Record additional notified concerns

To record additional notified concerns in ICMS:

• Add any additional persons to the event.
• Complete the additional notified concerns form, including: 
  • the screening criteria
  • response priority, if relevant.
• Complete the pre-notification check section of the intake form, if relevant.
• Submit the additional notified concerns form to the senior team leader for approval.

Advise the relevant CSSC of the new concerns by emailing:

• the person listed as the owner of the ICMS event
• the relevant senior team leader.

The senior team leader will decide if a second notification is to be recorded, instead of additional notified concerns—notification response, when concerns are received about a child, and:

• the child is a subject child in an in-progress investigation and assessment relating to their previous household with another parent or carer
• an investigation and assessment on the family has been completed, awaiting write-up or approval in ICMS, and the family permanently moves to another geographical area.

Before deciding to record additional notified concerns for a family who has moved to another geographical area:

• Contact the relevant CSSC senior team leader to discuss the contextual factors of the case.
• Consider whether recording a second notification would be more appropriate.

To record additional notified concerns:

• Complete the additional notified concerns form in ICMS, including: 
  • the new concerns
  • the rationale field, if it is a child concern report response
  • the screening criteria
  • the response priority, if it is a notification response.
• Advise the relevant CSSC of the new concerns and response priority timeframe, where applicable. 

The senior team leader will:

1. Approve the additional notified concerns form.
2. Reassign the investigation and assessment to the pending allocation tray of the relevant CSSC.

For further information refer to Decide if additional notified concerns is the appropriate response.

Record an intake with no identifying information

If concerns are received about a child, but the notifier is unable to provide full identifying information, make every effort to obtain:

•  a name
•  an address, or way to locate the child.

If an address is unknown, the Information Sharing Protocol between the Commonwealth and Child Protection Agencies allows Australian Government agencies, including Centrelink, Medicare Australia and the Child Support Agency, to release a family's last known whereabouts:

• to an authorised officer
• in specific circumstances.

Requests are to be made:

• via Data Management Services 
• only after all other attempts to locate a family have been exhausted.

To make sure information can be linked to the child and family in the future, record information in ICMS if there is identifying information (such as names) about a child or family, but no address or way of locating the child or family.                                 

Do not record information in ICMS if:

• there is no identifying information about the child and family that would allow the concerns to be linked with them in the future
• attempts to obtain identifying information about the child and family were unsuccessful.

Consult the senior team leader about where the record of information will be stored, if it is unable to be recorded in ICMS.

Record duplicate concerns

All concerns received from a notifier are to be recorded.  Duplicate concerns are concerns received that duplicate those previously received about the same specific incident or event. Duplicate concerns do not refer to similar concerns that relate to a further incident of the same nature.

To record duplicate concerns in ICMS:

• Complete the intake form or additional notified concerns form, as relevant.
• Create a heading titled concerns previously recorded and include: 
  • the date and event number of the original notification
  • an explanation that the concerns have already been recorded
  • the outcome of the investigation and assessment, if completed.
• Complete the screening criteria and select no criteria.
• Record a child concern report with ‘Information and advice’ as the response.
• Email the ICMS event ID to the relevant CSSC, if applicable.

If information is received about new child protection concerns and duplicate concerns, record:

• the new concerns in line with usual intake processes as either  
  • a child concern report  
  • a notification
•  the duplicate concerns, as outlined above.