9 March 2010
Includes: New system introduced | New! Consultation on NGO capacity building and workforce development | Information Fora | Keeping Accountable 

Introduction

Following the release of Report of the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW in 2008, the NSW Government committed to implementing almost all the of the 111 recommendations in a five-year action plan called Keep Them Safe. The Government has also invested significantly in the plan with $750 million over five years. 

New system introduced

On 24 January 2010 the Children Legislation Amendment (Wood Inquiry Recommendations) Act 2009 was proclaimed. This means that the new child protection system is now in place.

New Threshold
From 24 January 2010 only reports that a child or young person is at "risk of significant harm" should be directed to the Community Services Child Protection Hotline. Where mandatory reporters have concerns for a child or young person that do not meet the significant harm threshold, they (or their agency) should offer and coordinate assistance to the child or young person, or make a referral to other services.

Mandatory Reporter Guide
The new Mandatory Reporter Guide, developed by the US Children's Research Center, is now available on the Keep Them Safe website. The guide has been designed for mandatory reporters to assist in determining whether concerns about a child or young person reach the new threshold of risk of significant harm and hence whether a report should be made to Community Services or other action taken.

Support Line for Non-Government Mandatory Reporters
The NSW Government has established a telephone support line to assist NGOs (including non-government schools) and General Practitioners with the changes under Keep Them Safe (KTS), specifically with the introduction of the new reporting threshold. It is called the KTS Support Line and is a transitional service for the first six months of the new system that will be reviewed to identify future need.

The Support Line will operate 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays), from 25 January 2010. The phone number is 1800 772 479.

Information Sharing
The new provisions relating to information exchange in the Children and Young People (Care and Protection) Act 1998 are in place.

These changes allow "prescribed bodies" to request information from other agencies that will assist in delivering the best and most appropriate services to children, young people and their families and also to get a better picture when considering the level of risk of harm a child or young person might face.

Prescribed bodies include agencies that conduct residential child care centre or a child care service and other organisations that have direct responsibility for, or direct supervision of, the provision of health care, welfare, education, children’s services, residential services, or law enforcement, wholly or partly to children.

A number of resources to assist NGOs, including fact sheets and checklists have been developed and are available on the Keep Them Safe website.

Child Wellbeing Units (CWUs)
CWUs have been established and will be operational from 24 January in the four government agencies (NSW Police, Department of Education and Training, NSW Health and the Department of Human Services) that make up the largest percentage of child protection reports. Trained staff in CWUs will assist mandatory reporters to use the Mandatory Reporter Guide and ensure that all concerns that reach the threshold of risk of significant harm are reported to the Child Protection Helpline.

Where concerns do not meet the new threshold, information about the child or young person will be entered on the new CWU database, WellNet. This information will be visible to staff in other CWUs, which will assist in assessing cumulative risk of harm. CWU assessment officers will help mandatory reporters to identify services available within their own agency or in other organisations which could support the family.

Family Referral Services (formerly referred to as Regional Intake and Referral Services)
Family Referral Services (FRS) are intended to assist the support needs of vulnerable children, young people and families whose circumstances will not warrant statutory child protection intervention under the new threshold. FRS will link children, young people in need of assistance, and their families with the most appropriate support services in their local area.

The service will be piloted over a 12-month period in Dubbo, Mount Druitt and Newcastle and surrounding areas. There will be two service models: a telephone referral service and an augmented service with capacity to conduct face-to-face referrals with some case management and access to support supplemented via the use of brokerage funding. The three pilots will be thoroughly evaluated to determine the optimal service model for a state-wide roll-out.

A number of resources to assist NGOs, including fact sheets and checklists have been developed and are available on the Keep Them Safe website.

Consultation on NGO capacity building and workforce development

The NSW Government has engaged KPMG to develop a plan to build the capacity of the non-government sector and develop the child and family workforce as part of Keep Them Safe.

A discussion paper has been developed that identifies six key areas for focus:

1. Developing partnerships between NGOs and Government to support collaboration and planning
2. Aligning practice and services to outcomes
3. Reducing administrative burden to promote sector effectiveness and efficiency
4. Measuring outcomes and performance
5. Strengthening governance, management and leadership capacity
6. Building a workforce with the right skills.

Download: Discussion Paper Keep Them Safe:  A Shared Approach to Child Wellbeing

KPMG is conducting a series of consultations with stakeholders to draw upon your views and experience in relation to the areas of focus to inform the further development of the Plan. The consultations include three different formats:

1. Participation in one of the workshops 12-24 March 2010
   Download:  Invitation to workshops
2. A short online questionnaire:
   Link:  https://www.surveys.kpmg.com/mmi/2wXY962/Link.html 
3. Opportunity for direct email response to the discussion paper

Information Fora 

The Keep Them Safe peaks (AbSec, ACWA, Create Foundation, FaMs, LCSA, NCOSS and YAPA) will be holding a series of cross sector forum on the latest developments in the Keep Them Safe Action Plan specifically for peak organisations so that we can consider the issues and ramifications of the Action Plan and provide feedback through the various advisory groups established by Government.

Keeping Accountable

At a forum of non-government human service peak organisations, convened at NCOSS on 6 November 2009, it was agreed that a more systematic approach was needed to monitor and inform the implementation of the Action Plan. The Keeping Accountable campaign was launched. The campaign seeks to effectively keep track of, and contribute to, the progress of the Keep Them Safe Action Plan. This includes seeking enhancements to the plan where we feel there are gaps or changes required.

The Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies (ACWA) has developed a table mapping the Action Plan against the Wood Recommendations and the actual actions of the Government and non-government organisations to implement the Plan. This is available at on the ACWA website.

We are asking non-government peak organisations and service providers to contribute to the completion of the table by sending any information they have about the implementation of the plan.

A form is available on the ACWA website which can be downloaded, completed and sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .  As information is gathered and verified it will be placed in the table on the website.

Resources

• Keep Them Safe website:  www.keepthemsafe.nsw.gov.au
• Keeping Accountable website:  http://www.acwa.asn.au/wood_commission.php

Information

• Dev Mukherjee, NCOSS Senior Policy Officer
  phone: 9211 2599, ext 116
  email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it