Undertake a safety and support response

A family may be referred to an Assessment and Service Connect provider for a safety and support response. 

If the senior team leader endorses the safety and support response:

• Check the capacity of the service to accept a referral.
• Contact the parent or pregnant person within three business days (of when the decision was made to record a notification) and 
  • talk to them about the concerns received
  • seek their consent for Child Safety to make a referral to a service for a safety and support response.
• If the parent or pregnant person does not consent or contact with the parent or pregnant person is unable to be made within the three business days, respond to the matters as a standard response.
• If the parent or pregnant person consents, complete a referral to the service in the intake case in Unify within two business days of gaining consent.
• If during the discussion with a parent or pregnant person it becomes evident that a safety and support response is not an appropriate response, advise the senior team leader, who will determine the appropriate response in accordance with the assessment of the information gathered.

The notification will remain open in Unify for up to 10 business days following the service provider receiving the referral, to allow confirmation to be received that the parent or pregnant person has engaged with the service. 

Once the service provider has confirmed that the parent or pregnant person has engaged with the service, finalise the intake case in Unify. To do this:

• select the family or pregnant person engaged with the service
  and
• submit the intake case to the senior team leader for approval.

If confirmation has not been received from the service provider within 10 business days: 

• Contact the service provider to follow up on the referral and find out if contact has been made with the parent or pregnant person.
• Identify barriers or delays to engagement and discuss whether the service provider is willing to continue attempts to engage the parent or pregnant person for a safety and support response.
• Respond with a standard response if the service provider is not able to continue attempts to engage the parent or pregnant person. 

Respond to an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child or unborn child

When undertaking a safety and support response for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child or unborn child, the senior team leader will:

• Consult the family about whether they would like an independent person to help facilitate their full participation in decision making about engaging in a safety and support response, and if so, help to arrange an independent person (Refer to Procedure 5 Enable meaningful participation in decision making.)
• Consult the pregnant person, and if the pregnant person consents, arrange for an independent person, to help facilitate the participation of the pregnant person and the child’s family in making decisions that are likely to have a significant impact on the child’s life, once born (Child Protection Act 1999, section 22(3) and (4)).

Respond with a standard response

Return a safety and support response to a standard response if:

• the ASC does not have capacity to engage the family 
• the parent or pregnant person was unable to be contacted within three business days 
• the parent or pregnant person did not give consent to a referral 
• the ASC advised that the family did not engage in the safety and support response, or that the referral was not accepted.

To return the safety and support response to a standard response:

• advise the senior team leader, who will decide if the matter will continue as a standard response or escalate to a priority response.
• select the radio button concerns identified that need a departmental response to finalise the notification and open an assessment case in Unify. Do not record a new notification.