❓ Hon Nick Goiran asks about instances where children, subject to prior child protection notifications, were hospitalised or died before or after investigation completion. The answer details processes but declines to provide specific numbers due to resource constraints.
AnsweredQoN 3228Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to children who were not in care, but had been hospitalised or had died after the Department had received a child protection notification about them in the previous 12 months, and I ask: (a) since 2019, on how many occasions did this occur where the Department had not yet completed an investigation; and (b) since 2019, on how many occasions did this occur where the investigation had been completed but a decision had been made to not bring the child into care?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
20 October 2020
Responded by
Leader of the House representing the Minister for Child Protection
Response time
7 days
(a) - (b)
The safety and wellbeing of children is of paramount concern, and the Department of Communities (Communities) will always respond to the immediate safety of the child where concerns are received.
When child protection notifications are received, Communities assesses whether the concerns meet the threshold for statutory intervention and if the matter will progress to a Child Safety Investigation.
Child Safety Investigations are designed to address and assess the initial or immediate child protection concerns for a child. Child Safety Investigations are prioritised as follows:
Considerations for determining priority include, but are not limited to, the age of the child, the functioning and developmental stage of the child, severity and location of injury, recency of harm, likelihood of recurrence, intent of person who potentially caused harm, protectiveness of caregiver, current location of the child, information from other agencies.
In the 2019-2020 financial year, Communities received 18,022 child protection notifications, of which 14,192 progressed to a Child Safety Investigation.Communities’ Casework Practice Manual details that there are three practice requirements that must be determined as part of a Child Safety Investigation:
In order to obtain information on child protection notifications for children who were not in care but had been hospitalised, Communities would need to conduct a manual search of individual case files, which would take significant time and effort, and would be an unreasonable use of operational resources.
In the 2019-2020 financial year, the Department of Communities has received notifications of 31 cases that met the criteria for an investigable child death. Investigable deaths are defined in the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1971 and occur when a child dies and the following circumstances exist:
a) the 2 years before the date of the child’s death, the CEO had received information that raised concerns about the wellbeing of the child or a child relative of the child;
b) the 2 years before the date of the child’s death, the CEO, under section 32(1) of the CCS Act, had determined that action should be taken to safeguard or promote the wellbeing of the child or a child relative of the child;
c) in the 2 years before the date of the child’s death, any of the actions listed in section 32(1) of the CCS Act was done in respect of the child or a child relative of the child;
d) protection proceedings are pending in respect of the child or a child relative of the child;
e) the child or a child relative of the child is in the CEO’s care.
In order to obtain detailed information related to Communities involvement with each of the investigable child deaths, the Department of Communities would need to conduct a manual search of individual personal case files. Once again, this would take significant time and effort and it would be unreasonable to apply operational resources to undertake this task.
The safety and wellbeing of children is of paramount concern, and the Department of Communities (Communities) will always respond to the immediate safety of the child where concerns are received.
When child protection notifications are received, Communities assesses whether the concerns meet the threshold for statutory intervention and if the matter will progress to a Child Safety Investigation.
Child Safety Investigations are designed to address and assess the initial or immediate child protection concerns for a child. Child Safety Investigations are prioritised as follows:
Considerations for determining priority include, but are not limited to, the age of the child, the functioning and developmental stage of the child, severity and location of injury, recency of harm, likelihood of recurrence, intent of person who potentially caused harm, protectiveness of caregiver, current location of the child, information from other agencies.
In the 2019-2020 financial year, Communities received 18,022 child protection notifications, of which 14,192 progressed to a Child Safety Investigation.Communities’ Casework Practice Manual details that there are three practice requirements that must be determined as part of a Child Safety Investigation:
In order to obtain information on child protection notifications for children who were not in care but had been hospitalised, Communities would need to conduct a manual search of individual case files, which would take significant time and effort, and would be an unreasonable use of operational resources.
In the 2019-2020 financial year, the Department of Communities has received notifications of 31 cases that met the criteria for an investigable child death. Investigable deaths are defined in the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1971 and occur when a child dies and the following circumstances exist:
a) the 2 years before the date of the child’s death, the CEO had received information that raised concerns about the wellbeing of the child or a child relative of the child;
b) the 2 years before the date of the child’s death, the CEO, under section 32(1) of the CCS Act, had determined that action should be taken to safeguard or promote the wellbeing of the child or a child relative of the child;
c) in the 2 years before the date of the child’s death, any of the actions listed in section 32(1) of the CCS Act was done in respect of the child or a child relative of the child;
d) protection proceedings are pending in respect of the child or a child relative of the child;
e) the child or a child relative of the child is in the CEO’s care.
In order to obtain detailed information related to Communities involvement with each of the investigable child deaths, the Department of Communities would need to conduct a manual search of individual personal case files. Once again, this would take significant time and effort and it would be unreasonable to apply operational resources to undertake this task.
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