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Policies and Procedures
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Phases
-
Intake
- Intake policy
- Receiving, registering and classifying a report
- Unborn child reports
- Section 38 consultations
- Child in contact with sex offender
- Family Court, Federal Circuit Court and Magellan List
- Referral from Children's Court - Criminal Division
- Court report request - Family Division
- Interstate requests
- Hague Convention - Child Protection
- Allegations of sexually abusive behaviour
- SOS client contact
- New allegations
- Irreconcilable differences
- Assessing and managing family violence in intake
- Changing the status of a child from Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander during intake phase
- Conducting the intake risk assessment
- Intake to manage permanent care order
-
Investigation
- Investigation policy
- Investigation plan
- First visit
- Completing the investigation following the first visit
- Decision on outcome of investigation
- Investigation of sexually abusive behaviour
- Decision making after TTR investigation
- Assessing and managing family violence during the investigation phase
- Conducting the risk assessment
- Protective intervention
- Protection order
- Closure
-
Intake
- Case planning
-
Court
- Applications by emergency care before a Bail Justice
- Directions hearing
- Applications by emergency care
- Affidavits and statutory declarations
- Initial court applications - by notice
- Permanent care orders
- Reporting back following a referral from the Criminal Division of the Children’s Court
- Return of temporary assessment order
- Temporary assessment order (without notice)
- Withdrawing a protection application
- Responding to subpoenas
- Warrants
- Court procedure
- Family violence
- Breaches, variations, revocations and extensions
- Applying for a suppression order for a child protection client
- Family Drug Treatment Court - procedure
- Family reunification orders and an alcohol or drug treatment condition for parents
- Information sharing with the Magistrates' Court and the Children's Court
- Information sharing
-
Out-of-home care
- Care allowance
- Care teams
- Contact
- Education planning
- Interstate and international travel
- Kinship care
- Leaving care
- Passports
- Placing a child in out-of-home care
- Quality of care concerns
- Voluntary placements
- Secure welfare
- Accessing Better Futures Flexible Funding - procedure
- Applying for Home Stretch - procedure
- Applying for a Medicare number for a child in care
- Applying for a birth certificate - procedure
- Applying for evidence of citizenship on behalf of a child
- Authorising carers using the child specific authorisation
- My Health Record and children in out-of-home care policy
- My Health Record
- Overnight stays
- Referral to Better Futures - procedure
- Registering a child’s birth - procedure
- Working with Children Checks prohibition, suspension or interim negative notice - policy
- Working with Children Checks prohibition, suspension or interim negative notice - procedure
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National police history checks
- National police history checks policy
- CSOs undertaking national police history checks
- Contact with children placed in OoHC
- National police history checks for worker safety
- Placement approval where national police history check details are delayed
- Undertaking a national police history check
- Obtaining authorisation to request police checks
- Aboriginal children
-
Children in specific circumstances
- Children related to DHHS staff
- Assessment of suitability for a youth control order
- Child found unattended at home
- Children in immigration detention
- Female genital mutilation - procedure
- Fire risk behaviours
- Forced marriage - procedure
- Gender diverse clients and recording gender identity - procedure
- High-risk youth
- High-risk youth panels and schedules
- Infant risk assessment and response decision
- Intensive bail
- L17 Family Violence Portal Historical Search
- Possible contact to AHCPES
- SIDS safe sleeping assessment
- Seeking assistance from SOS
- Sexual exploitation
- Undisclosed placements - procedure
- Unidentified abandoned child
- Youth control orders planning meetings
- Critical incidents
- Case allocation and transfers
-
Health, Medical and Disability
- Case management: NDIS and children with a disability and/or complex medical needs
- Consent for medical examination and treatment
- Intake: NDIS and children with a disability and/or complex medical needs
- Managing cases where medicinal cannabis is being used
- Medical and forensic examinations
- Requesting a drug screen
- Young people with a cognitive disability who may require a guardian or administrator upon leaving care
-
Phases
-
Advice and Protocols
-
Advice
-
Intake
- Intake phase
- Receiving and processing reports
- Re-reports
- Consultation with community-based child and family welfare services
- Unborn child reports
- Case conferences
- Family Court, Federal Circuit Court and Magellan List
- Court report requests - Family Division
- Referral from Children's Court - Criminal Division
- Interstate requests
- Malicious reports
- Hague Convention
- Irreconcilable differences
- Mandatory reporting
- Intake outcomes
- Concluding intake
-
Investigation
- Investigation phase
- Investigation planning
- Conducting the first visit
- Joint visits with police
- Interviewing without parental permission
- Seeking information from other sources
- Verifying orders
- Temporary assessment orders
- Immediate removal of a child
- Substantiation
- VARE
- Court action
- Genograms
- Photographs
- Investigation outcomes
- Concluding investigation
- Protective intervention
- Protection order
- Closure
-
Case planning
- Case planning
- Family reunification
- Family-led decision making (FLDM) model
- Internal review of decisions
- VCAT review
- Assessing and managing family violence in child protection - advice
- Identifying and achieving the permanency objective
- Request for, and provision of, a Statement of Reasons
- Risk assessment - advice
- Working with adult perpetrators of family violence
-
Court
- Protection order descriptions
- Preparation for court
-
Hearings
- Child attendance at court
- Closed court
- Conciliation conference addendum report guide
- Conciliation conferences
- Contested court hearings
- Directions hearings
- Guide for managing applications by emergency care before a Bail Justice
- Negotiating a settlement
- Placement in secure welfare services on s. 598 warrant
- Roles & responsibilities in court proceedings
-
Legal processes
- Access to court reports
- Children's Court search warrants
- Children's Court witness summons
- Conditions on orders
- Confidentiality of mail to and from legal representatives
- Expiry of orders
- Interstate warrants
- Preparing the court report
- Responding to subpoenas
- Use of private information in court related documents
- Structure
- Appeals
- Family Drug Treatment Court - advice
- Suppression orders for child protection clients
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Out-of-home care
- Care teams
- Principles, roles and responsibilities for placement
- Kinship placement
- Voluntary placements
- Contact
- Placement changes
- Participating in activities
- Placement in a secure welfare service
- Quality of care concerns
- Cross border placements
- Wards of the State and Forgotten Australians
- Health
- Travel
- Administration
- Leaving care
- Permanent care
- Adoption
- Better Futures - advice
- Birth certificates - advice
- Home Stretch - advice
- Preparing a child for placement
- Working with Children's Check for kinship carers - advice
-
Aboriginal children
- Responding to Aboriginal children
- Planning for Aboriginal children
- Assessing kinship care for Aboriginal children
- Placing Aboriginal children in out-of-home care
- Cultural plans
- Aboriginal child and family services
- Permanent care for Aboriginal children
- Aboriginal family-led decision making program
- Changing the status of a child from Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander - advice
- Identifying Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children - advice
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Children in specific circumstances
- Infant risk assessment and response decision - advice
- High-risk youth
- High-risk youth panels and schedules
- SIDS and safe sleeping
- Children in contact with sex offenders
- Sexual exploitation
- Dual order clients
- Suicide and self harming
- Child exclusion condition on family violence orders
- Fire risk behaviours
- Unaccompanied homeless children
- Therapeutic treatment reports and orders
- Possible contact to AHCPES
- Children in immigration detention
- Children related to DHHS staff - advice
- Children related to DHHS staff
- Female genital mutilation - advice
- Forced marriage - advice
- Gender Identity and Gender Diverse Clients
- Home environment check
- Intensive Bail - advice
- L17 Family Violence Portal Historical Search - advice
- Undisclosed placements - advice
- Youth control orders - advice
- Critical incidents
- Case allocation and transfers
-
Health, Medical and Disability
- Consent for medical examination and treatment
- Medical and forensic examinations
- Health and wellbeing of child protecton clients
- Mental health assessments and treatment
- Drug and alcohol assessments
- Drug screens
- Suspicious or unclear hospital admission or discharge
- Disability and complex medical needs - advice
- Immunisations
- Medicinal cannabis
- My Health Record and child protection
- Young people with a cognitive disability who may require a guardian or administrator upon leaving care - advice
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Intake
- Forms and secure documents
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Information sheets
- First visit
- Contact
- Court
- Emergency care
- Orders
-
Review of Child Protection decisions
- Review of a child protection decision for young people
- Review of a child protection decision for parents
- Request for a review of a child protection decision form
- Review of Child Protection Decision for Parents - Easy Read
- Review of a decision made by Child Protection without a protection order - parents
- Review of a decision made by Child Protection without a protection order - young people
- Child sexual abuse information
- Privacy notices
-
Authorising carers
- Information for young people re carer authorisation
- Information for parents re carer authorisation
- Information for carers re authorisation care by Secretary order and long-term care order
- Information for education and child care providers re carer authorisation
- Information for carers re authorisation IAO, FRO
- Information for carers re standard authorisation
- Permanent care
- Birth certificates
- Changes to Children's Court orders
- Child Link
- Forced marriage
-
Health
- AOD treatment initiative for family reunification - fact sheet for child protection practitioners
- COVID-19 vaccinations for children and young people in care
- Coronavirus (COVID-19) Fact Sheet for Secure Care Services
- Drug screens - information sheet for parents
- Health care consent for children in out-of-home care
- Immunisation for children - information for parents
- Immunisation for children - information for young people
- Immunisation for children in out-of-home care - information for CPPs and CSO case managers
- Immunisation for children in out-of-home care - information for carers
- Immunisation for children in out-of-home care - information for immunisation providers
- My Health Record and children in out-of-home care - information for carers
- My Health Record and children in out-of-home care - information for parents
- My Health Record and children in out-of-home care - information for young people 14 years and over
- Identifying Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children
- Kinship care
- Other languages
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Tools and checklists
- Outreach kit checklist
- Investigation planning checklist
- Worker safety considerations
- Child & family snapshot and genogram tool BICPM
- Substantiation judgement matrix
- Areas of concern
- Case transfer checklist
- Authorising carers checklist
- Assessment tools
- Legal representation for children and families checklist
- Court preparation checklist
- Administering Children's Court orders summary table
- Better Futures Flexible Funding form
- Better Futures referral checklist
- CRIS Child Protection guides
- Case planning - what you need to know
- Certain Category B and C Offences for consideration in approving an after hours kinship care placements
- Child Protection student placements
- Completing an Australian passport child application form
- Counting time in out-of-home care
- De-allocation checklist
- Drug screen collection sites for child protection
- Emergency care - Buddy Bags for children
- Essential information categories
- Genogram program user guide
- How Child Protection interacts with My Health Records
- How to send an encrypted email in Outlook
- Infant response decision tool
- List of Information Sharing Entities (ISEs)
- PCA Families brochure
- SAFER and MARAM assessment tools
- Sexual exploitation information template process map
- When Children Go Missing, Fact Sheet for Obtaining Warrants
- Working with perpetrators of family violence to reduce risk to children - tip sheet
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Flowcharts
- Child protection process
- Case planning
- Intake phase
- Unborn child report
- Investigation phase
- Protective intervention phase
- Protection order phase
- Legal process
- Placement process
- LAC processes
- Changing the status of a child from Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- Choosing the case plan permanency objective
- Conciliation conference flowchart
- Direction to parents to resume parental responsibility
- Family Violence Information Sharing decision trees
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Protocols
-
Police, courts & legal services
- Police overarching principles
- Police
- Police contacts
- Police information exchange registered sex offenders
- Family Court & Federal Circuit Court
- Memorandum of Understanding with the Family Court
- MOU between CP and VLA for matters at the Melbourne Children's Court
- MOU between CP and VLA for matters at the Moorabbin Children's Court
- Community Correctional Services
- Living with mum (in prison) protocol
- Restricted access prisoners protocol
- Working with children check unit MOU
- Legal Aid
- Interstate warrants
- Information Sharing Protocol between the Department of Health and Human Services, the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria and the Children’s Court of Victoria
- Intra-DHHS
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Education & medical
- Early childhood agreement
- Education partnering agreement
- Drug treatment services
- Mental health
- Royal Children's Hospital
- RCH SCAN meetings
- RCH discharge planning & case conferences
- RCH placements
- Information Sharing Protocol between the NDIA and Australian States and Territory Agencies
- MOU between DET, DHHS, FSV, Catholic Education and Independent Schools Vic
- Commonwealth
- VACCA
- Family Services
- Professionals' reporting guide
- Crown Entertainment
- International child protection
- Interstate child protection
- ACSASS practice requirements
- Family violence referral protocol
- MOU with the Public Advocate
-
Police, courts & legal services
-
Service descriptions
- Out-of-home care
- Courts and legal
- Education & medical services
-
Support services
- Use of interpreters
- Homelessness support services
- Parenting assessment services including PASDS
- Family services including Child FIRST
- Placement of children with mothers in prison
- Family violence services including perpetrator programs
- Finding Solutions family and youth mediation service
- Relationship counselling
- Grief counselling and grief and loss services
- Sexual assault services including services for sexual offenders
- Intensive case management service
- Youth support services
- Transition to independent living allowance
- Services for victims of crime including VOCAT
- Family Violence Child Protection Partnership
- Multidisciplinary centres
- AHCPES and SOS
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Specialist resources
- Family-led decision making
- Therapeutic treatment resources
- Early years science - brain development
- Vulnerable babies, children and young people at risk of harm
- Model litigants guidelines
- Transporting children and families
- Corrections fact sheet
- Abuse and harm - legal and practice definitions
- Child sexual exploitation
- Children at risk learning portal
- Cultural planning for Aboriginal children
- Culturally diverse children and families
- Family violence
- Forced marriage - community pack
- Healthcare that counts framework
- Kidsafe Victoria
-
National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
- Children who may require accommodation outside the family home due to complex disability support needs - Guidance for child protection practitioners
- Leaving care planning for young people eligible for the NDIS
- Practice guidelines - NDIS and mainstream services
- Practice guidelines for Child First, The Orange Door, Integrated Family Services, Child Protection and Out-of-Home Care
- Out-of-home care toolbox
- Permanency amendments overview
- Permanent care manual
- Placement coordination and placement planning
- Practice leader case planning: Implementation and guidance 2018
- Stability planning and permanent care project report
-
Advice
-
Our Approach
- SAFER children framework
-
Best interests case practice model
- Best interests case practice summary guide
- Infants and their families
- Children and their families
- Adolescents and their families
- Children with problem sexual behaviours and their families
- Adolescents with sexually abusive behaviours
- Child development and trauma
- Cumulative harm
- Families with multiple and complex needs
- Working with families where an adult is violent
- Child sexual exploitation practice guide for child protection
-
Information sharing
- Information sharing in child protection practice
- Information security
- Breaches of privacy
- Freedom of information
- Privacy notices
- Child Information Sharing Scheme and Child Protection
- Child Link - advice
- Child Protection and digital platforms
- Connect For Safety Child Protection record search - advice
- Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme and Child Protection
- Privacy legislation and Child Protection
-
Roles and responsibilities
- Case recording
- Consultation with specialist practitioners
- Powers of the Secretary when the Secretary has parental responsibility
- Charter for children in out-of-home care
- Human rights and child protection
- Complaints about inappropriate behaviour of legal practitioners
- Child Safe Standards
- Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme
- Reportable Conduct Scheme
- Multi-disciplinary practice
- Community Education
-
Our Workforce
-
Supervision
- Professional supervision
- Student placements
- Supervision within child protection presentation
- Effective supervision within child protection
- Functions of supervision
- Leading practice - frontline and middle managers
- Resolving individual workload concerns for child protection practitioners
- Child Protection professional supervision compliance
- Child Protection supervision - How to guide
- Staff safety and wellbeing
- Workload management
- Delegations and decision making
- Learning and development
- Operating model
-
Supervision
- Contact us
- Practice Dictionary
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Breadcrumb
- Home
- Policies and Procedures
Policies and Procedures
-
Phases
-
Intake
- Intake policy
- Receiving, registering and classifying a report
- Unborn child reports
- Section 38 consultations
- Child in contact with sex offender
- Family Court, Federal Circuit Court and Magellan List
- Referral from Children's Court - Criminal Division
- Court report request - Family Division
- Interstate requests
- Hague Convention - Child Protection
- Allegations of sexually abusive behaviour
- SOS client contact
- New allegations
- Irreconcilable differences
- Assessing and managing family violence in intake
- Changing the status of a child from Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander during intake phase
- Conducting the intake risk assessment
- Intake to manage permanent care order
-
Investigation
- Investigation policy
- Investigation plan
- First visit
- Completing the investigation following the first visit
- Decision on outcome of investigation
- Investigation of sexually abusive behaviour
- Decision making after TTR investigation
- Assessing and managing family violence during the investigation phase
- Conducting the risk assessment
- Protective intervention
- Protection order
- Closure
-
Intake
- Case planning
-
Court
- Applications by emergency care before a Bail Justice
- Directions hearing
- Applications by emergency care
- Affidavits and statutory declarations
- Initial court applications - by notice
- Permanent care orders
- Reporting back following a referral from the Criminal Division of the Children’s Court
- Return of temporary assessment order
- Temporary assessment order (without notice)
- Withdrawing a protection application
- Responding to subpoenas
- Warrants
- Court procedure
- Family violence
- Breaches, variations, revocations and extensions
- Applying for a suppression order for a child protection client
- Family Drug Treatment Court - procedure
- Family reunification orders and an alcohol or drug treatment condition for parents
- Information sharing with the Magistrates' Court and the Children's Court
- Information sharing
-
Out-of-home care
- Care allowance
- Care teams
- Contact
- Education planning
- Interstate and international travel
- Kinship care
- Leaving care
- Passports
- Placing a child in out-of-home care
- Quality of care concerns
- Voluntary placements
- Secure welfare
- Accessing Better Futures Flexible Funding - procedure
- Applying for Home Stretch - procedure
- Applying for a Medicare number for a child in care
- Applying for a birth certificate - procedure
- Applying for evidence of citizenship on behalf of a child
- Authorising carers using the child specific authorisation
- My Health Record and children in out-of-home care policy
- My Health Record
- Overnight stays
- Referral to Better Futures - procedure
- Registering a child’s birth - procedure
- Working with Children Checks prohibition, suspension or interim negative notice - policy
- Working with Children Checks prohibition, suspension or interim negative notice - procedure
-
National police history checks
- National police history checks policy
- CSOs undertaking national police history checks
- Contact with children placed in OoHC
- National police history checks for worker safety
- Placement approval where national police history check details are delayed
- Undertaking a national police history check
- Obtaining authorisation to request police checks
- Aboriginal children
-
Children in specific circumstances
- Children related to DHHS staff
- Assessment of suitability for a youth control order
- Child found unattended at home
- Children in immigration detention
- Female genital mutilation - procedure
- Fire risk behaviours
- Forced marriage - procedure
- Gender diverse clients and recording gender identity - procedure
- High-risk youth
- High-risk youth panels and schedules
- Infant risk assessment and response decision
- Intensive bail
- L17 Family Violence Portal Historical Search
- Possible contact to AHCPES
- SIDS safe sleeping assessment
- Seeking assistance from SOS
- Sexual exploitation
- Undisclosed placements - procedure
- Unidentified abandoned child
- Youth control orders planning meetings
- Critical incidents
- Case allocation and transfers
-
Health, Medical and Disability
- Case management: NDIS and children with a disability and/or complex medical needs
- Consent for medical examination and treatment
- Intake: NDIS and children with a disability and/or complex medical needs
- Managing cases where medicinal cannabis is being used
- Medical and forensic examinations
- Requesting a drug screen
- Young people with a cognitive disability who may require a guardian or administrator upon leaving care