❓ Hon Nick Goiran asks about the Department of Communities' record-keeping practices regarding police interactions with children in care, including interventions and charges laid. The Department confirms records exist but are not readily accessible for global reporting due to resource constraints.
AnsweredQoN 3004Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to children in care who have interactions with Western Australia Police as a result of problematic behaviour, and I ask: (a) does the Department keep record of police interactions or interventions with children in care: (i) if yes to (a), what are the statistics for 2020; (ii) what are the statistics for 2019; and (iii) what are the statistics for 2018; (b) does the Department keep record of charges laid by police against children in care: (i) if yes to (b), what are the statistics for 2020; (ii) what are the statistics for 2019; and (iii) what are the statistics for 2018; and (c) if the Department only keeps this information at a case file level, why isn’t it kept in a readily-accessible, global manner?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
8 September 2020
Responded by
Leader of the House representing the Minister for Child Protection
Response time
9 days
(a - c) Yes. The Department of Communities’ child protection case workers capture interactions, interventions, and charges laid by the WA Police for children in care of the Chief Executive Officer in file notes contained on individual case files.
These interactions are recorded on the child’s client case file. Elements of the data recorded on the client case file is able to be extracted for compliance and monitoring. Global reporting of the data referred to in the question is not able to be extracted from the client case file.
In order to obtain this information, Communities would need to conduct a manual search of individual personal case files. This would take significant time and effort and it would be unreasonable to apply operational resources to undertake this task.
The Children and Community Services Act 2004 , has information sharing provisions that enable the exchange of relevant information between Communities and a public authority (e.g. Police), a Commonwealth agency, a corresponding authority, a non-government provider or a person with a direct interest in the wellbeing of a child or young person.
These interactions are recorded on the child’s client case file. Elements of the data recorded on the client case file is able to be extracted for compliance and monitoring. Global reporting of the data referred to in the question is not able to be extracted from the client case file.
In order to obtain this information, Communities would need to conduct a manual search of individual personal case files. This would take significant time and effort and it would be unreasonable to apply operational resources to undertake this task.
The Children and Community Services Act 2004 , has information sharing provisions that enable the exchange of relevant information between Communities and a public authority (e.g. Police), a Commonwealth agency, a corresponding authority, a non-government provider or a person with a direct interest in the wellbeing of a child or young person.
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