Understanding roles and responsibilities in the sector

Child wellbeing and safety is everyone’s responsibility, which means everyone works together to keep children safe and well.

View Understanding roles and responsibilities in the sector as chapters

Overview

Child wellbeing and safety is everyone’s responsibility, which means everyone works together to keep children safe and well. If you work with or provide a service to children or families, you have a role to play in identifying their needs, strengths and opportunities for supporting them and working collaboratively with other practitioners.

This Part includes the following sections:

Government agencies
- Department of Communities and Justice
- NSW Police Force
- Department of Education
- NSW Health
Child Wellbeing Units
Non-government sector
Types of services provided by non-government organisations and other agencies
Independent oversight
Local Government
Peak organisations

Government agencies

Department of Communities and Justice

The Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) commenced on 1 July 2019. It brings together the former departments of Family and Community Services and Justice. The new department enables services to better work together to support everyone's right to access justice and other help for families. It also delivers services with a more unified and collaborative approach.

DCJ is the NSW Government department with statutory responsibility for assessing whether or not a child or young person is in need of care and protection. The primary law in this regard is the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (the Care Act).

DCJ’s commitment to improving the safety and wellbeing of children is achieved in collaboration with other government agencies, non-government agencies (NGOs) and the community. This builds the capacity and strength of families and communities and provides preventative and early intervention measures. By preventing harm or intervening early, child and family services can prevent the escalation of risk and the need for statutory intervention by DCJ.

DCJ and the Office of the Children’s Guardian work collaboratively to provide a framework to support children in care to access the best possible services. This is supported by a number of Memoranda of Understanding between DCJ and other agencies.

DCJ manages and responds to child protection reports when professionals and members of the general public suspect a risk of significant harm. Anyone can make a suspected risk of significant harm report about a child by calling the Child Protection Helpline or presenting to a local Community Service Centre. Mandatory reporters also have the option to make an eReport through the ChildStory Reporter website.

The Joint Child Protection Response Program (JCPRP) is a tri-agency partnership among DCJ, the NSW Police Force (NSW Police) and NSW Health. It delivers a coordinated multidisciplinary response to reports of sexual abuse, serious physical abuse and serious neglect. The program fosters cooperation to prioritise the safety, welfare and wellbeing of children. The partners have mutual respect for each agency’s expertise and responsibilities, share information and coordinate their responses. This ensures that the processes surrounding safety, care and protection, health and wellbeing, and criminal investigations, are as seamless as possible. For more on information on the JCPRP see Assessing wellbeing, safety and risk

The NSW Practice Framework shows how DCJ works with children and families and includes the principles, values, mandates, approaches and systems that underpin DCJ’s work. The Framework places children at the centre of decisions and practice. This video shows DCJ’s commitment to upholding and promoting the NSW Practice Framework: Our collective commitment.

ChildStory

ChildStory is a NSW Government shared information technology system for child wellbeing and protection. It is the single point for a DCJ child protection practitioner to view, create and update information about a child they are working with. The system is built to provide a holistic view for informed decision-making and ensures a child is placed at the centre of their story.

ChildStory encourages collaboration among a child’s network of family, carers, practitioners and service providers to ensure their wellbeing and safety. Information about a child is accessible to a child’s network via the following ChildStory platforms:

ChildStory Casework – the single point for DCJ practitioners, and key child protection practitioners in NSW Police, Health and Education to view and/or update information about a child.
ChildStory Partner – allows non-government agencies to interact with DCJ by being able to securely send and receive information about the children they work with.

Child Wellbeing Units (CWUs) in NSW Health, the Department of Education and NSW Police also document child protection and wellbeing concerns raised by their sectors directly into ChildStory. This generates a cumulative picture of risk and harm and actions across agencies can be formed in response.

ChildStory is also used by mandatory reporters to access the Mandatory Reporter Guide, to submit eReports to the Child Protection Helpline or CWU, and to receive feedback on the status of the reports they have made.

Permanency Support Program

The Permanency Support Program (PSP) aims to help more children stay safely at home, minimise entries and re-entries of children into out-of-home care (OOHC), to improve permanency outcomes for children, and provide them with better quality care. PSP services may be provided by DCJ or NGOs.

Under the PSP, child protection practitioners work with a child and their family to identify the best permanency goal. This can be returning to their family with restoration, guardianship, adoption, or parental responsibility to the Minister. The aim is to attain that goal within two years. In NSW, there is an order of preference for how a child in the OOHC system can achieve permanency.

Components

There are four key components of PSP which support children and families to achieve permanency:

PSP and non-government partners

The PSP introduced significant changes to the way DCJ funds service providers. The changed funding processes define the expectations for the sector, which include:

Working towards permanency from the time a child enters care
Collaborating more closely with DCJ and other services to achieve the best possible outcomes for children.

The Permanency Case Management Policy includes a policy statement, practice guidance and resources. These are designed to explain the way DCJ and NGOs work together to achieve safety, permanency and wellbeing for children.

The policy clarifies the different roles and responsibilities of DCJ and NGOs in responding to child protection reports, assessing safety, and case planning for permanency.

Services provided by the PSP

Family preservation involves working with parents as early as possible and providing them with intensive support to help keep children at home safely. PSP Family Preservation Packages are designed to embed a continuum of care within service providers as a first step in implementing an investment approach. That is, as the number of children in care reduce, PSP funds will be reinvested into additional preservation activities. As explained in this video, NGOs have a key role in delivering preservation packages.

The importance of and need to support the principle of Aboriginal self-determination is a central theme of the PSP Family Preservation Packages.

DCJ may also refer families to evidence-based services and programs such as:

Family Group Conferencing
Multi-systemic Therapy for Child Abuse and Neglect (MST-CAN®), and
Functional Family Therapy for Child Welfare (FFT-CW®) to help keep families together.

Other child protection programs such as Brighter Futures, Youth Hope, Intensive Family Preservation and Intensive Family Based Services also support vulnerable parents to care for their children and keep them at home safely.

Supporting Aboriginal children and families through the PSP

Through the PSP, DCJ in partnership with AbSec is committed to strengthening the capacity of Aboriginal service providers. This ensures that they are better equipped to keep Aboriginal children safe and cared for, in their families or with kin. All service providers must work with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal family and kin to support family preservation in the first instance, using culturally safe evidence-based tools like Family Group Conferencing.

In consultation with AbSec, the Aboriginal Case Management Policy (ACMP) has been developed as a framework for Aboriginal-led and culturally embedded case management practice to safeguard the best interests of Aboriginal children. NSW Government has a strong focus on improving practice through the cornerstones of the ACMP, including: Aboriginal family-led assessment and decision making, Aboriginal community controlled mechanisms and proactive efforts.

The ACMP provides specialised guidance on achieving safety, stability and cultural continuity for Aboriginal children. It does so across early intervention and prevention supports, child protection services and the PSP. It also aims to empower Aboriginal families and communities to take on a significantly greater role in the decisions affecting Aboriginal children and families and the services provided to them.

Youth Justice

DCJ Youth Justice supervises and cares for young offenders in the community and in Youth Justice centres. It provides youth justice conferences for young offenders referred by police or the courts.

There are six Youth Justice centres across the state that accommodate young offenders and offer health, educational and spiritual services. These services include individual case management, specialised counselling, and training in job and living skills. There are also 35 Youth Justice community offices that provide community-based intervention for young offenders.

Youth Justice is committed to being a child safe organisation and continuously improving its systems to protect children and meet the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

See http://www.juvenile.justice.nsw.gov.au/ for more information on Youth Justice.

Corrective Services NSW

Corrective Services NSW, a Division of DCJ, runs the state’s correctional centres, supervises offenders in the community, and delivers programs to reduce reoffending, support reintegration, and build safer communities.

Corrective Services NSW’s primary child protection responsibilities relate to ensuring children and young people in Corrective Services NSW’s care are safe from harm. When a child is identified as being at significant risk of harm, it is reported to the Child Protection Helpline. Corrective Services NSW also has policies to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children under 18 years of age who visit correctional centres.

For more information see https://correctiveservices.dcj.nsw.gov.au/csnsw-home/support/child-protection.html

NSW Police Force

The NSW Police also play a key role in the care and protection of children. NSW Police identify, report and investigate child abuse and neglect, and initiate legal proceedings for child abuse and neglect offences. Police Officers of the NSW Police are also mandatory reporters and are required to report to the Child Protection Helpline or Police CWU if they suspect a child is at risk of significant harm (ROSH). Under section 43 of the Care Act, Police also have the power to take immediate action to remove a child from a place of risk if the child is at immediate risk of serious harm. NSW Police will provide a Notice to person/s with care responsibilities PDF, 605.39 KB about the reason/s for removal of a child or young person from any place or premises.

The NSW Police has established the Child Abuse Squad to ensure provision of a specialist response to support Police Area Commands across NSW. This includes the investigation of sexual abuse, serious physical abuse and serious neglect of children. The Child Abuse Squad are the policing component of the JCPRP. Under the program’s Statement of Intent, they work in cooperation with DCJ and NSW Health to provide the best outcomes for children and young people, their families, carers, and the community.

Department of Education

The Department of Education ensures young children get the best start in life by supporting and regulating the early childhood education and care sector. The Education Act 1990 seeks to mitigate educational disadvantages arising from the child’s gender or from geographic, economic, social, cultural, lingual or other causes.

Regulation in early childhood education falls under different legislation- Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010and the Education and Care Services National Regulations.

The Out of Home Care in Government Schools Policy sets out the requirements relating to children and young people in statutory OOHC who are attending government schools, including preschools. It sets out the roles and responsibilities of principals, teachers, and OOHC coordinators. It ensures that children in OOHC have access to the full range of school activities and programs.

Education staff in government and non-government schools and childcare workers are mandatory reporters. They are required to recognise and respond when a child is suspected to be at ROSH. In the education context, principals and workplace managers are responsible for reporting suspected ROSH concerns to the Child Protection Helpline or Education CWU.

All staff of the Department of Education and early childhood educators participate in child protection awareness training and annual mandatory child protection training. These reinforce staff roles and responsibilities in supporting students, as well as responding to, and reporting, suspected risk of harm concerns. Department of Education staff can access their CWU for help and advice in responding to child wellbeing or protection matters.

Child Protection Education is taught to all students as a mandatory component of the Personal Development, Health and Physical Education syllabus in every stage from Kindergarten to Year 10.

The Association of Independent Schools of NSW (AISNSW) is the peak body for independent schooling in NSW. AISNSW advocates for and represents the interests and needs of all independent schools across the state. AISNSW assists schools with a range of child protection matters including investigations, reporting and compliance with various government regulations.

Catholic Schools NSW is the peak body for Catholic Schools in NSW.

NSW Health

NSW Health services promote and protect the health, safety, welfare and wellbeing of children. NSW Health works with government agencies and NGOs to prevent and mitigate the effects of violence, abuse and neglect on children. NSW Health does this by implementing child wellbeing and protection programs, contributing to child protection policies, and working with children that are at ROSH.

NSW Health also delivers a range of programs that support parents with health and wellbeing issues that may impact on their parenting capacity. These include adult drug and alcohol and mental health services.

Frontline NSW Health workers and managers are mandatory reporters. They are required to report children suspected to be at ROSH to the Child Protection Helpline or to the Health CWU. The NSW Health Policies and Procedures for Child Wellbeing and Child Protection provides resources and guidance for Health workers to meet their legal, practice and policy responsibilities in protecting children.

NSW Health’s role in JCPRP, the tri-agency partnership among DCJ, NSW Police and NSW Health, is to provide forensic medical and therapeutic services for children, young people and their families/carers.

Health support services for children and young people

NSW Health delivers a continuum of services across primary, secondary and tertiary care. These offer many opportunities to identify children at risk and assist vulnerable parents/carers to access appropriate support to provide safe and nurturing environments for their children.

Working at the frontline of the public health system, health workers are uniquely placed to identify and respond to family risk factors for child abuse and neglect. They can do so early in a child’s early life and for young people in order to reduce these risks and improve health outcomes.

Key health services for vulnerable children include:

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
Youth Health Services
Child and Family Health Services
New Street Services
Sexual Assault Services
Child Protection Counselling Services (CPCS)
Out of Home Care Health Pathway Program

For more information regarding NSW Health services see the NSW Health website.

Further information about the role of NSW Health in protecting children can be found in the NSW Health resource: About child protection and wellbeing.

CASE STUDY - Collaboration of government services in practice

Successful collaboration of government agencies and services can lead to better outcomes for people experiencing vulnerability. For example, having a positive learning experience in education can act as a powerful predictor of lifelong wellbeing, including academic achievements, transition to tertiary education, employment, and life opportunities. Poor educational outcomes have costly lifelong and intergenerational impacts on children in OOHC and the wider community. Schools and early childhood education are also a crucial part of the support system that can keep children connected to adults who can help keep them safe.

The OOHC Health Pathway Program is a program which sees government agencies working together to achieve better outcomes for children. The program includes DCJ, NSW Health and NGOs working collaboratively to provide support to children who have high and unmet health needs. NSW Health leads the program which provides coordinated health assessments and intervention for children entering statutory OOHC. A guide is available to assist DCJ and NGO staff through the health pathway process.

Read Harry’s story which sees his caseworker, Belinda and school teacher, Mrs Chaulk work together to help him build resilience and achieve better outcomes.

Child Wellbeing Units

Child Wellbeing Units (CWUs) are located in the three key agencies employing mandatory reporters: the NSW Department of Education, the Ministry of Health and NSW Police. The purpose of CWUs is to support their workforce and build capacity, in order to support mandatory reporters to better respond to concerns relating to the safety, welfare and wellbeing of children and young people.

Mandatory reporters from any of the three agencies should contact their relevant CWU if they suspect a child or young person may be at ROSH. This will assist with effective application of the mandatory reporter guide. The CWU Assessment Officer will then be able to support the mandatory reporter in the following ways:

Advise mandatory reporters on whether a report should be made to the Child Protection Helpline as it is likely to meet ROSH
Where a report does not meet the reportable threshold for ROSH, assist with referrals to early intervention and other non-statutory services most suited to the child and/or their family.

In doing so CWUs and mandatory reporters ensure children at ROSH are reported to the Child Protection Helpline. Where the risk does not reach the ROSH threshold, those children and families are provided with appropriate responses by schools, health services, police and non-government child and family service providers.

The NSW Department of Education promotes the use of the Mandatory Reporter Guide (MRG) each year in its annual child protection training, which is mandatory for all staff. All contacts about safety, welfare or wellbeing concerns received by the Department’s Child Wellbeing Unit are asked whether they have used the MRG. Assessment officers will run through the MRG with callers who have not used the MRG, and its use is strongly encouraged.

NOTE: CWUs function as alternative reporting pathways as outlined in Section 27A of the Care Act. As such, mandatory reporting responsibility can be fulfilled by workers within each agency by reporting concerns to their relevant CWU. CWUs have the same confidentiality requirements on any contact as the Child Protection Helpline.

For more information on mandatory reporting see Reporting and responding to child wellbeing and safety concerns

More information on CWUs across the agencies can be found at:

Department of Education - Child Wellbeing Unit

NSW Health - Child Wellbeing Unit

NSW Police- Child Wellbeing Unit

Non-government sector

NGOs perform a key function in supporting children and their families and government agencies.

NGOs have unique strengths and capabilities in providing specialised or locally based services that are shaped by their communities through their clients, staff, management and boards. NGOs deliver services and initiatives which are often funded by government in a transparent, accountable and professional manner, and in accordance with agreements negotiated for these purposes. For example, NGOs are service providers for preservation and restoration programs, the Permanency Support Program and Specialist Homelessness Services.

NGOs work collaboratively across the service system. They ensure their clients have access to support and assistance for children and their families throughout their journey, from early intervention to intensive support and case management.

Types of services provided by non-government organisations and other agencies

Services for families, children and young people

From 1 January 2021, Family Connect and Support (FCS) will be available to children and their families experiencing or at risk of experiencing vulnerability in NSW. Primarily FCS is a service for families with identified concerns that fall below the threshold of statutory child protection intervention. It includes a range of services, such as: comprehensive assessment, active outreach and short term case planning and coordination. FCS provides an entry point or connection into the service system for families who may be experiencing vulnerabilities or who are requiring some level of support before issues escalate.

A continuum of services is available for families to address current vulnerabilities, prevent escalation and foster a protective and nurturing environment. A list of services, support and information about DCJ funded programs for families is available here: Programs, Services and Support for Families.

Parent Line is a free telephone counselling and support service for parents and carers with children aged 0 to 18 who live in NSW.

Specialist Homelessness Services

Specialist homelessness services provide support to people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness. They offer a range of interventions including accommodation, case management, advocacy and living skills development. See homelessness programs for more information on services across NSW.

Advocacy and representative organisations

Advocacy and representative organisations provide an avenue for certain groups in the community to have their views and opinions heard in decisions that affect them. Some groups focus on individual advocacy, while others undertake peak body functions to represent the interests of their target communities at the systemic level. For example, Create Foundation is the national body representing the voices of children with an OOHC experience, and AbSec is the NSW Child, Family and Community Peak Aboriginal Corporation.

Services for people with disability

All NSW government agencies are responsible for inclusive service provision as core business. Ensuring people with disability have access to all government services will contribute to effective systemic responses when multiple vulnerabilities are involved. Services which provide targeted support to children with a disability and their networks include:

National Disability Insurance Scheme – children with disability aged under 7 years can receive support via Early Childhood - Early Intervention services funded by the National Disability Insurance Agency.
Raising Children Network (Australia) is a website available to all Australian parents and carers providing up-to-date, evidence-based, scientifically validated information about raising children, including children with a disability.
National Carer Gateway and Carers NSW. These services provide support, advice, access to counselling, financial services, respite and coaching for carers, including carers of children with disability.
Young carers can also access supports at Young Carers NSW.
People caring for children with a disability who are also from a different language and cultural background can find support through the Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association of NSW.

Services for Aboriginal families

A range of services, supports and DCJ funded programs available to Aboriginal families including websites and phone numbers are available at Services, support and programs for Aboriginal families.

Services for families experiencing domestic and family violence

Information, services and supports for families experiencing domestic and family violence. Key services include:

Domestic Violence Line a 24 hour hotline providing immediate information to assist in keeping safe.
1800 Respect provides home and online counselling for women experiencing violence and information on keeping children safe.
Men's behaviour change program enables men using violence to recognise their violent behaviour and develop strategies to prevent violence from occurring in the future.
Men’s Line Australia provides a counselling service to men experiencing challenges with relationships and fatherhood.

Services for children and families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds

Supports and DCJ funded programs available to children and families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are available at support contacts for families with CALD backgrounds.

Settlement Services International (SSI) is a community-based not-for-profit organisation providing a range of services in the areas of humanitarian settlement, multicultural child and family support, disability support, and employment services in NSW. SSI offers culturally responsive training to support children and families, including:

multicultural care planning
working with interpreters
fundamentals of culturally responsive practice.

Further information is available here https://www.ssi.org.au/services/ssi-training.

Mental health services and support

For mental health programs for children and young people, parents, adults and older people visit mental health services and support.

Independent oversight

There are a range of independent agencies that oversee and support the work of organisations that provide services within the human services sector. These agencies provide a variety of services, including safeguarding the interests and rights of all children, including those in OOHC.

NSW Ombudsman

The Office of the NSW Ombudsman safeguards the community in their dealings with government and NGOs that fall within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

The NSW Ombudsman has responsibility for keeping the following types of organisations under scrutiny:

Agencies delivering public services - including correctional centres
Agencies delivering community services - including services for people with disabilities, people who are homeless and elderly people.

The NSW Child Death Review Team (CDRT) within the NSW Ombudsman reviews the deaths of children in NSW. It also undertakes research that aims to prevent and reduce the likelihood of child deaths. The CDRT is required to report to the NSW Parliament about its work and activities.

Office of the Children's Guardian

The Office of the Children’s Guardian (OCG) promotes the interests and rights of children living in OOHC. In July 2020, the creation of the position of Deputy Children’s Guardian for Aboriginal Children and Young People within the OCG was announced as part of the NSW Government response to the Family is Culture review of Aboriginal children and young people in OOHC. The Deputy Children’s Guardian for Aboriginal Children and Young People will elevate the rights and wellbeing of Aboriginal children.

The NSW child safe standards for permanent care 2015 are used by the OCG for the accreditation of agencies that provide statutory OOHC and/or adoption services in NSW.

The OCG is responsible for supporting implementation of the 10 Child Safe Standards recommended by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The aim of the standards is to achieve and maintain a genuine commitment to child safe culture and practice through incremental and continuous improvement over time. The OCG has produced a Guide to the Child Safe Standards to support organisations working with children to create, maintain and improve their child safe practices.

The OCG’s functions also include the Reportable Conduct Scheme and the Working with Children Check Scheme. The OCG also has responsibilities regarding the employment of children, helping to protect the safety, health and wellbeing of children while they are employed in the entertainment industry.

Office of the Advocate for Children and Young People

The Advocate for Children and Young People (ACYP) is an independent statutory office reporting to the NSW Parliament. The ACYP provides a voice for children and young people to ensure that their rights are respected and their points of view heard by decision makers.

The role of the ACYP is to influence and initiate positive change by:

making recommendations to Parliament, and government and non-government agencies, on legislation, policies, practices and services that affect children and young people
promoting children and young people’s participation in activities and decision-making about issues that affect their lives
conducting research into children’s issues and monitoring children’s wellbeing.

NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission

The Commonwealth NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission is an independent agency established to improve the quality and safety of NDIS supports and services. It regulates the NDIS market, provides national consistency, promotes safety and quality services, and responds to concerns and complaints about NDIS supports and services.

In addition to the OCG requirements, providers of 24/7 support to children with disability must be registered with the NDIS Commission as a condition of their funding.

Local Government

NSW Local Governments support organisations to respond to needs at a local level through a range of activities and services including:

community and neighbourhood centres where people can meet and access resources
services and projects targeting particular groups such as men, women and cultural groups.

Councils and libraries have a key role in creating safe harbours that promote child wellbeing and keeping children safe.