A report from Family
Services to Child Protection intake can be made at any time via the
Loddon Mallee Central Child Protection Intake telephone number 1800
675 598.
Unless the report is
urgent and likely to require a Child Protection response that day,
the Family Services worker will have explored all options to
prevent the report of the child(ren) to Child Protection
Intake. This will involve joint work between the Family
Services case worker and the Community Based Child Protection
Worker throughout the life of the case and especially at any given
point where the risk appears to be escalating and/or cannot be
contained.
Examples of joint
work include:
-
CBCPW/Family Services home
visits
-
Case conferences involving
CBCPW
-
Active engagement and assertive
outreach
-
Case consultations and case
reviews.
Unless the report is
urgent, Family Services will consult with the Community Based Child
Protection Worker about the suitability of the report, prior to
making the report to Child Protection Intake.
A Report from Family
Services to Child Protection Intake will include a written or
verbal statement advising that the Community Based Child Protection
Worker has/has not been consulted about the Report being made and
that the Community Based Child Protection Worker agrees/does not
agree with the Report
It is anticipated
that in most instances where the Community Based Child Protection
Worker has been consulted and recommends the Report , the Report
will classified as a “Protective Intervention
Report”. However the final responsibility relating to
this decision rests with the Child Protection Intake Unit
Manager.
In the event that
Child Protection Intake transfers the case to a Child Protection
Team for protective investigation a handover meeting may take place
involving the Community Based Child Protection Worker, the Family
Services worker, the allocated/responsible Child Protection
practitioner and as appropriate, family members and other
professionals.
Every effort will be
made to ensure continuity of Child Protection service by allocating
a case reported by Family Services to the former recent Child
Protection practitioner or Team.
A decision on
whether the case should remain open within Family Services pending
the outcome of the Child Protection intervention, will be made in
conjunction with the relevant Child Protection practitioner and
family Services following investigation by Child
Protection.
If there is a
prospect of ongoing Family Services involvement following the
protective intervention, preferred practice indicates the case
should remain open within Family Services. In these
circumstances, Child Protection will assume case responsibility
during the protective intervention phase. It is the
responsibility of the Child Protection practitioner to advise the
Family Services worker when the protective intervention phase is
complete and to negotiate a date for the transition of case
responsibility back to Family Services.
