Case management: NDIS and children with a disability and/or complex medical needs | Child Protection Manual

NDIS guide, complex medical needs, children with a disability, NDIS plan

1706

This procedure should be used by child protection practitioners and contracted case managers who are working clients of child protection who also have a disability and/or complex medical needs.
Document ID number 1706, version 8, 24 November 2025.

Introduction

Disability and complex medical needs can significantly increase a child’s vulnerability. When risk of harm issues are evident, thorough consultation and information sharing with all specialist disability and/or medical services involved with a child is required. This includes NDIS funded supports where the child has, or may require, a NDIS plan.

See Disability and complex medical needs- advice for additional information regarding this procedure.

See Practice guidelines for The Orange Door, Integrated Family Services, Child Protection and Out-of-Home Care for further information about working with children with a disability who require NDIS supports.

There are Disability Practice Advice teams (DPAs) in each division who can provide advice to support child protection and related staffing teams to:

understand and navigate the NDIS system and the disability sector
support practice in relation to working with children with a disability; and
maximise the disability supports and NDIS outcomes for the children with a disability who encounter the child protection system.

Tip Sheets are available on the Working with Children and Young People with a Disability Sharepoint Site which is only accessible to departmental staff.

Practitioners can access more information on the Child Protection Learning Hub.

Procedure

Case practitioner tasks

Investigation and protective intervention

Consult with services involved with the child to understand how the child communicates in order to obtain their views or complete an investigative interview where a child is non-verbal or has significant alternative communication needs. It may be appropriate for a support person to be present with the child during an investigative interview.
Gather information from all relevant hospital staff (where applicable) and other medical and disability professionals about the reported protective concerns and parental capacity to meet the child’s safety, health and wellbeing needs where the report relates to a child with complex medical needs/and or disability.
Consider the child’s unique needs, characteristics, and vulnerabilities within the EICs of your SAFER risk assessment, to ensure they are reflected in your analysis and risk judgements.
Reflect any risks or information about the parents’ capacity to meet the child’s needs within the Essential Information Categories (EICs) and analysis of your risk assessment to ensure evidence informed decision making and planning.
Confirm if the child has a disability and/or complex medical need in CRIS following completion of the first home visit. The disability and complex medical needs fields are mandatory at the Investigation and Assessment phase where a first visit has been recorded. For more information on recording disability and/or complex medical needs in the investigation and assessment phase, see the Recording Disability and Complex Medical Needs Information CRIS Guide.
When a case involving a young person with a significant or complex disability or complex medical needs is recommended for closure who is 16 years 9 months or more (but will not be 18 when the case closes), seek the endorsement of the Principal Practitioner to close the case. This applies when an investigation has been completed, whether substantiated or not, and at any phase following investigation.
Consider a consultation with a Disability Practice Advisor to inform needs assessment, decision making, provide advice in relation to NDIS, and support connection to appropriate services.

If direct child protection involvement with a young person with a significant or complex disability or complex medical needs is ceasing at or after 16 years 9 months but before 18 years of age, it is critical that appropriate arrangements are in place as early as possible to provide continued support and the provision of an extended period of transition. This will increase safeguarding for vulnerable young people who are close to, or are 17, where thereafter Child Protection no longer has statutory authority to intervene.

Where a NDIS plan already exists:

Confirm with the family what funded supports are being accessed, including any support coordination services, and contact the service providers directly to obtain information about the child’s disability/complex medical needs, engagement with services and their views about the child and family circumstances.

Support coordination is a funded NDIS service that provides NDIS participant with more intensive support to implement NDIS plans. Support Coordinators will be able to access information about a parent or child’s NDIS plan, including what services being accessed and how frequently.

Where families consent to you contacting the NDIA to gather information about the families circumstances or communicate the with the NDIA on their behalf, request the parent complete a Consent to Exchange Information Form. Consent to Exchange Information forms can be used where a participant or NDIS representative of a child agrees for the NDIA to share and receive information about them to third parties, such as child protection.
Where a NDIS plan is in place and the family will not consent to you accessing their information and you do not have access to information about funded NDIS supports, complete a NDIS Information Request Form. The NDIS Information Request Form can be used to seek information from the NDIS without consent of the participant or their representative. Part 4E of the form must refer to why this information is required to formulate a risk assessment for a child.
When completing the form, include information about:
- why consent cannot be obtained
- why the NDIS registered providers working with the family are not known and therefore cannot contacted directly for information.
- specific details regarding what information is required from the NDIA, this may include:
  - copies of the NDIS plan or a medical or disability assessment.
  - the names of current and past funded supports.
  - current funding allocation and how frequently it is being utilised.
Record specific information regarding the child’s disability and/or complex medical needs in CRIS. For more information, see the Recording Disability and Complex Medical Needs Information CRIS Guide.
Inform disability and medical services involved about the protective concerns being investigated and the outcome of the investigation, inclusive of the NDIS Support Coordinator (if funded in the NDIS plan), Local Area Coordinator (children aged 7 – 18) or local Early Childhood Partner (children aged 0 – 6). Consider a case conferencing approach as required.

Local Area Coordinators (children aged 7 – 18), and local Early Childhood Partners (children aged 0 – 6) are local NDIS services that support people to access the NDIS and help NDIS participants develop and implement their NDIS plans. The NDIS website has contact information for all Local Area Coordinators and Early Childhood Partners in Victoria.

Where appropriate, support the parents/carers to engage with their NDIS Support Coordinator (if funded in the NDIS plan), Local Area Coordinator (children aged 7 – 18) or local Early Childhood Partner (children aged 0 – 6) to request a NDIS plan review where the child’s NDIS plan does not contain adequate supports to meet the child’s disability related needs.

Where a NDIS plan does not exist and the child is likely to be eligible:

Gather specific information regarding the child’s disability and/or complex medical needs from all disability and medical services involved with the family and update in CRIS.
Consult with the divisional DPA team to obtain advice regarding NDIS access
Support the parent/carer to access the NDIS for the child. This may include:
- Gathering evidence about the child’s disability, including funding assessments to obtain a diagnoses.
- Obtaining information from the parent/carer and other professionals about the child’s day to day disability needs.
- Contacting or supporting the parent/carer to contact the NDIA’s National Access Team on 1800 800 110 or the Local Area Coordinator to commence the access process.
- Planning meeting with the NDIS.
- Record the outcome of the NDIS planning meeting on CRIS, and upload information about the child’s disability in LAC on CRIS.
- Where appropriate, undertake a referral to Family Services to support the family access the NDIS or request and NDIS plan review to address unmet disability support needs.
Consult the Child Protection Litigation Office (CPLO) where a child with a disability and subject to an IAO requires a NDIS access request and parents will not consent.

Where support coordination is not funded, Child Protection or Family Services should play an active role in supporting the family obtain funded support coordination during the NDIS planning process.

If the child has a NDIS plan and is placed in care on an interim accommodation order (IAO):

Consider a consultation with the DPA in relation to the appropriateness and implementation of NDIS funded supports within the child’s new care arrangement.
If the child's placement has changed, liaise with the Support Coordinator (if funded in the NDIS plan), or Local Area Coordinator (children aged 7 – 18), or local Early Childhood Partner (children aged 0 – 6) about the child’s disability needs in their new placement.
Regularly review the adequacy of the child's disability and medical supports with the care team and during the case plan review process

Protection order

Where a NDIS plan for the child is in place:

Where the court order transfers the guardianship of a child to the Secretary to the exclusion of all others (LTCO or CBSO) or there is a court ordered condition nominating Child Protection to be the child's representative on the NDIS plan, provide the NDIA with a copy of the court order and details of the allocated practitioner, contracted case manager and delegated decision maker (usually a case planner CPP5.2 or above).
If there are any other persons involved with a child who has authorisation of the secretary for day-to-day decisions (such as a carer or a contracted case manager), provide their details to the NDIA and details of the extent and limitations of their decision making authority.
For children where their disability support needs are either complex, or causing complexity within the wider care plan, a consultation with the DPA can assist to explore options for appropriate escalation or the development of an appropriate response.
Where the Secretary has parental responsibility for the child, the delegated decision maker (usually a case planner CPP5.2 or above) should sign any service agreements to enable the delivery of NDIS supports.
Financial Delegate to sign any invoices for NDIS funded supports where the NDIS plan is managed by a Plan Manager and the Secretary is the Child’s Representative.

A Service Agreement is a contract between the Secretary as the Child’s Representative and the disability service provider which will outline how they will deliver the supports in the child’s NDIS plan. As a delegate of the Secretary you may be required to sign a Service Agreement with the chosen service provider/s for the child’s supports to begin. The support coordinator, if in place, or service provider will arrange for the Service Agreement to be developed for you to sign.

Work collaboratively with the family and all services involved or, where a child is in care the child’s care team, to advocate for the following supports funded in the child’s NDIS plan:
- Support Coordination – Many families involved with child protection or children in care may be eligible for Support Coordination. It is particularly important that children and young people in care with complex needs, or who are turning 17 years and will be transitioning to adult supports should have sufficient support coordination to maintain continuity and coordination of supports as they transition into adulthood.
- Development of daily living and life skills – where the child, or the child’s family or carer require support specifically related to the functional impairment to live as autonomously as possible, including, skills in daily life activities, communication and social skills, problem solving and managing funding of supports.
- Participation in community, social and civic activities - to assist children and young people participate in community activities. These activities can also assist to sustain caring arrangements as an alternative to previous supports funded as in-home/facility based care.
- Behaviour support – a child or young person may benefit from a behaviour support plan aimed at limiting the likelihood of behaviours of concern developing or increasing
- Additional needs – where a child is in out-of-home care and requires supports specific to the child’s disability that are additional to the needs of children of similar ages, including assistance with daily personal activities, aids and equipment, community participation and home modifications.

Children with a disability and behaviours of concern:

Consult with a DPA to explore appropriate responses, including interventions which are appropriate to both the child’s disability and trauma needs.
Engage relevant professionals to complete a functional behavioural assessment where a child has behaviours of concern possibly related to their complex disability needs and/ or other cormorbidities. This may include working with the Support Coordinator to engage a NDIS registered behaviour support practitioner.
Ensure the Behaviour Support Plan is shared with all parties providing daily care and support to the child or young person. NDIS funding may be pursued to fund additional training for carers to implement the behaviour support plan.
Support regular review of the behaviour support plan's effectiveness and its implementation by carers in collaboration with the care team and establish responsibilities and timeframes for ongoing review.
Where the NDIA is conducting a reassessment, ensure all information that evidences a child's complex circumstances, and new or changed complex circumstances, is provided to the NDIS to ensure the most appropriate decisions are made about the NDIA supports provided. This may include the type of plan provided to the child, the amount of funding to be allocated and whether a referral for a Complex Support Needs Pathway is appropriate.
Update the child’s case plan with information about behaviour support planning as required.
Coordinate any other specialist assessments required to meet the safety and wellbeing needs of the child and those around them.
Refer to the Positive practice framework: A guide for behaviour support practitioners for further information about behaviour support planning for children with a disability.

After hours disability crisis response for children who are NDIS participants

Where a child is a NDIS participant and a disability-related crisis occurs outside of business hours (5pm-9am weekdays, weekends and public holidays), After Hours Service (AHS) can contact the NDIS After Hours Crisis Response Service. Further information is available from the AHS NDIS After Hours Crisis Response Service advice.

Leaving care for young people in care with NDIS plans:

Follow the Leaving care procedure and advice, and refer to the Leaving care planning for young people eligible for the NDIS - quick guide
Contact with Centrelink to commence a Disability Support Pension application at 16 years if the young person is eligible.
Ensure that goals around transition to adulthood/leaving care are included in the child’s NDIS plan from 16, including home and living goals where these are relevant and in line with the child’s disability support needs
Commence early planning with the NDIA as part of the 15+ Care and Transition plan including referrals to the Better Futures program.
Contact the Office of the Public Advocate (OPA), Advocate Guardian Program for young people with cognitive disability who will require a guardian or administrator upon turning 18. Refer to the department’s MOU with the Public Advocate for further information.
Engage the child’s Support Coordinator and other NDIS supports in planning as early as possible and prior to the child’s 17th birthday.

Discussions with the NDIS planner should begin at least from the child's 16th birthday to ensure inclusion of relevant goals in the NDIS plan relating to the child's transition to adulthood/ leaving care process. Where the child has disability related support needs that are likely to mean they require a NDIS home and living outcome, a home and living goal should be included in the child's NDIS plan prior to their 17th birthday.

Consult with a DPA to inform decision making, provide advice in relation to NDIS timeframes and processes in relation to leaving care, and support connection to appropriate services.
Work with the Support Coordinator to have a functional capacity assessment obtained and to gather additional evidence to support a Home and Living application for Supported Independent Living (SIL) and/or Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) if the young person is eligible.
Engage with the Support Coordinator and care team to identify appropriate disability supports for the young person’s transition to adult accommodation, education and/or day placement and supported employment as appropriate.
If the young person has a significant or complex disability or complex medical needs and is 16 years 9 months or more but will not be 18 years of age when the case is closed, seek endorsement of the Principal Practitioner to close the case. A consult with the DPA team prior to closure is also recommended.

Supervisor tasks

Provide ongoing support and supervision.

Case Planner tasks

Endorse risk assessments, and when doing so - ensure the risk assessment reflects and balances the vulnerabilities and needs against the capacity of the parent to keep them safe.
Formulate and endorse case plans, and any necessary Children's Court applications or recommendations.
Sign any service agreements, provide any necessary consents

Principal Practitioner tasks

Review arrangements in place for continued support of a young person with a significant or complex disability or complex medical needs aged 16 years 9 months or more when child protection involvement will cease before 18 years of age and endorse case closure.
Provide advice and assistance in considerations to whether a referral to OPA or application to VCAT may be required.

Related procedures and resources