At times, reports are received about children who are related to, or have a personal association, with a departmental staff member.
A departmental staff member may be related to or have a personal association with the child or the child's family.
Being “related” can be by birth or by marriage.
A “personal association” refers to a connection, bond or relationship between individuals, which can be based on friendship, family, work, or any other shared experience. These associations can range in strength and nature, from casual acquaintances to intimate relationships. These include but are not limited to friendships, family relationships, work relationships, romantic relationships and other associations such as shared activities or community involvement such as membership of the same religious organisation or sporting club.
See Children related to or who have a personal association with DFFH staff–advice for additional information.
Case practitioner tasks
- Advise your supervisor as soon as you become aware that you have been asked to work on a matter involving a child where you are a relative or have a personal association with the child or their family.
- Advise your supervisor as soon as you become aware that a child or their family member involved with Child Protection is a relative of or has a personal association with an executive officer or employee of the department.
Supervisor tasks
- Advise the area operations manager/director, Child Protection as soon as you become aware that a child or their family member involved with Child Protection is a relative of or has a personal association with an executive officer or employee of the department.
You may become aware of the relationship or personal association at the point of a new report or at any stage during Child Protection involvement.
Area operations manager/director, Child Protection tasks - in the area holding the case when the relationship or personal association is identified
- Review the details of the case
- Verify the relationship or nature of the association between the child and the departmental staff member, via your counterpart in another area if necessary.
- Consider the nature of the relationship or personal association and determine whether the case can be managed within the area or division, or whether the case should be transferred to a different area or division. The case must only be allocated to a child protection practitioner, supervisor and team manager that do not know the child, family or the related or associated staff member.
- If an investigation is to occur within the same area, confirm that the staff member and the child and their family are not known to the allocated child protection practitioner or their supervisor or the responsible team manager.
- If the case cannot be managed within the area or division, refer the case to a different area operations manager/director, Child Protection in a neighbouring division, or to a different area within the same division for immediate transfer of case management responsibility.
- Undertake management of the case directly or allocate management to a direct report (minimum CPP 5.2) pending referral to another area or division.
- If the staff member works in your area, and unless it is inappropriate, unsafe or unreasonable to do so, meet with the staff member who is related to, or associated with the child and advise the staff member not to seek information about the case through informal or inappropriate means, including through CRIS. Where the staff member is employed in another area or division contact the area operations manager/director, Child Protection for that area and arrange for them to have this discussion.
- If the staff member related to or associated with the child or family has CRIS access, apply a file restriction to CRIS limiting access to the allocated practitioner and their line management and, if appropriate, to the After Hours Service (AHS).
- Ensure periodic audits of access to CRIS are completed and that any suspicious access is reported to the area executive director, executive director or director, Child Protection.
- If you wish to share information with the employing area or division, for example in relation to disciplinary processes or actions that directly impact on a staff member's role as a child protection practitioner, seek advice from Legal Services or the Complaints, Integrity and Privacy Unit.
- Advise your area executive director in your division.
Area operations manager/director, Child Protection tasks - in the area accepting case responsibility for a case where the parent or carer of the child is a departmental staff member
- Familiarise yourself with the case and the file.
- Allocate the case to a team manager or a senior child protection practitioner (CPP5) (the allocated practitioner) who does not know the staff member or the child and their family concerned.
- Confirm the related or associated staff member does not have a professional or personal relationship with any staff in the allocated practitioner’s line of management.
- Arrange for the allocated practitioner to be supervised by a more senior officer in relation to the case.
- Monitor the case planning process undertaken for the case.
- Endorse all case planning decisions including movement of the case between phases, case closure, issuing of a protection application, placement changes, contact.
- Ensure an audit of access to CRIS is completed at the end of each case phase (intake, initial investigation, protective intervention, closure).
- Check if a protection order exists, and if so, carry out periodic checks that access to CRIS is still restricted and there has been no unauthorised access of the file, including any paper file.
- Investigate any access to CRIS by staff who do not have a legitimate involvement with the case to determine if there has been access to personal information and/or use of personal information which is not directly related to professional duties.
- Report any unauthorised access to CRIS to the area executive director, or executive director, Child Protection.
- Following a substantiation decision, review the case plan and consider whether case responsibility could be transferred back to the area or division where the child resides. Consult the area operations manager or director, Child Protection in the area of origin for the case. Consider:
- Best interest principles
- Risk of a conflict of interest occurring or being perceived to occur
- The department’s privacy obligations to only share information about a client to the extent necessary to support its statutory Child Protection functions
- Risk to the reputation of staff concerned.
If kinship care is being explored
- If a Child Protection staff member is asking to be considered as a kinship carer for a child, or a Child Protection staff member’s relation or personal association is being considered for a kinship care placement, follow the same procedures as above depending on whether the staff member works in the same or different division.
In some cases, it will be more appropriate for a team from another area or division to conduct the kinship care assessment and provide the ongoing support. It is essential to ensure the worker conducting the assessment does not have a pre-existing relationship with the Child Protection staff member.
If a FLDM or AFLDM is being explored
- If a Child Protection staff member is asking to participate in case planning or decision-making meetings for a child, or a Child Protection staff member’s relation or personal association is being considered for participation in such meetings, follow the same procedures as above depending on whether the staff member works in the same or different division.
It is essential to ensure the chairperson or convenor for the meeting does not have a pre-existing relationship with the Child Protection staff member.
If permanent care is the permanency objective for a case
If a Child Protection staff member is asking to be considered as the permanent carer for a child in the division, or a Child Protection staff member’s relation or personal association is being considered for a permanent care placement, follow the same procedures as above.
In some cases, it will be more appropriate for an external or non-divisional agency to conduct the permanent care assessment and provide the ongoing support. It is essential to ensure the caseworker from the external agency does not have a pre-existing relationship with the Child Protection staff member.
Area executive director, or director, Child Protection tasks
- Review advice received from the area operations manager/director, Child Protection regarding Child Protection involvement with a departmental employee.
- Report any unauthorised CRIS access to the divisional deputy secretary for consideration of a disciplinary investigation.
- Consider privacy obligations to the client and consult Privacy Unit if needed, particularly if you consider there has been a potential breach of a client’s privacy
- Contact Workplace Relations if the matter falls within the scope of Reportable Conduct. See Reportable Conduct Scheme advice for further information and reporting processes.