See procedure Receiving serious violent or child abuse material for tasks that must be undertaken.
It is important for practitioners and managers to take immediate actions when consulted about, or after unknowingly receiving, physical, electronic, or other material of children or young people involved in or being subjected to:
- Sexual abuse and/or
- Serious violent acts.
Criminal offences may apply to conduct involving violent or child sexual abuse material.
- Material
- Violent material
- Child abuse material
Material
For the purposes of this advice, material is any film, audio, photograph, printed matter, image, computer game, text, electronic material, or any other thing of any kind.
An image may be still, moving, recorded or unrecorded.
Serious violent material
For the purposes of this advice, serious violent material involving children or young people may include content describing or depicting:
- Children or young people or other persons committing, or inciting others to commit, reckless or intentional violent acts causing serious injury against other children, young people, adults or a group of people
- Children, young people or other persons involved in street fights, physical attacks, or other suspected crimes.
Child abuse material
Child abuse material or CAM is defined within the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) and is material that reasonable persons would regard as being offensive.
It includes material depicting or describing a person who is, or who appears to be or is implied to be, a child:
- Being a victim of torture, cruelty, physical abuse or sexual abuse
- Engaged in a sexual pose or sexual activity, or in the presence of another person engaged in a sexual pose or activity
It also includes material that depicts or describes:
- The genital or anal region of a person who is, or who appears or is implied to be, a child
- The breast area of a person who is, or who appears or is implied to be, a female child.
Receiving violent or child abuse material
Practitioners and managers should not seek to receive material that is believed or confirmed to contain violent acts or CAM.
Practitioners responding to inquiries about material held by family, carers, professionals or community members must direct that person to contact their local Victoria Police Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team (SOCIT).
Storing violent or child abuse material
If material is received electronically without practitioner consent or prior notice, and unless advised otherwise by Victoria Police, practitioners must not transmit or otherwise communicate the material to any person.
If material is received physically without practitioner consent or prior notice, and unless advised otherwise by Victoria Police, practitioners must:
- Place the information in a sealed envelope
- Attach a ‘WARNING’ cover sheet to the front of the envelope
- Securely store the envelope at their workplace, within a locked safe or cabinet in, unless required by Victoria Police to assist their investigation, a manager’s office, or other location as determined by the deputy area operations manager (DAOM);
- The safe or cabinet must not be able to be opened by employees without the knowledge of the DAOM.
Sending stored material to Victoria Police
Upon request by Victoria Police, practitioners sending stored electronic material to Victoria Police must use their work email. No third persons or parties are to be included in the correspondence; the material must be sent to Victoria Police only.
The email message should be encrypted and marked ‘protected’, and the subject line should read: ‘Content Warning: suspected violent or child abuse material attached’. The email body should contain the following content, for example: Please see attached material of [Child’s name] believed to be engaged in [summarise content of the material if known at a high level].
Unless otherwise advised by Victoria Police, stored physical material must be delivered in person to the receiving Victoria Police member.
A written note of the disclosure to Victoria Police must be made on the child’s CRIS file and include the receiving members name, position, and Victoria Police number.
Viewing child abuse material
Practitioners and managers must not intentionally view material that is believed or confirmed to contain child abuse.
If required for the purposes of a risk assessment, practitioners can request facial images or a written narrative of the material from Victoria Police.
See Receiving serious violent or child abuse material– Procedure for other tasks that must be undertaken.
When managing material of this type, practitioners must pay attention to:
- Worker and carer safety
- The impact of trauma and vicarious trauma
- Self-reflection, self-care and team reflection opportunities
- Supervision
- Management oversight.
See Child Protection Wellbeing Program for more information about the supports available to practitioners, including to support practitioners who are exposed to challenging incidents and circumstances