Who is the government department in NSW that oversees child protection concerns

Table of Contents Show

Support services
Other related Commonwealth government sites
State & territory government sites
Other related sites
National, state & territory councils of social service
International child support sites
CLC Care Partners Program defunded
Links and Resources:

Centrelink (Department of Human Services)
Centrelink has a range of online services available for families and can support parents or guardians with a range of payments
Child Support Agency (Department of Human Services)
Supports separated parents to transfer payments for the benefit of their children. Resources for parents including calculators for the new Child Support Scheme and a secure online service to manage child support deductions
Australian Taxation Office
Taxation information is essential for the effective assessment, collection and enforcement of child support. The Child Support Agency uses Tax File Numbers as customer identifiers and to exchange information with the ATO
Family Court of Australia
Assists Australians to resolve their most complex legal family disputes, including financial disputes

Raising Children Network
Helps parents fulfil their roles by providing centralised, Australian-focused, evidence based information for parents with children from birth to eight years of age
Playgroups Australia
Find your nearest playgroup. National peak and administrative body for playgroups in Australia
mychild.gov.au
Provides information to families about Australian Government early learning and care initiatives and other issues that affect children
Family Relationships Online
Provides all families (whether together or separated) with access to information about family relationship issues, ranging from building better relationships to dispute resolution
National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN)
Australia 's leading advocate for the prevention of child abuse and neglect
Australian Foster Care Association
A membership-based voluntary organisation supporting and representing the voices of foster carers, their families and the children they care for throughout Australia
Australian Childhood Foundation
The Australian Childhood Foundation works to put a stop to child abuse and give children a life free from violence and trauma.

Australia Child Wellbeing
The Australian Child Wellbeing Project (ACWP) is a new child-centred study in which children’s perspectives are being used to design and conduct Australia’s first major nationally representative and internationally comparable survey of wellbeing among children aged 8-14 years.
Child Family Community Australia (CFCA)
Research Practice and Policy Information Exchange. CFCA provides evidence-based publications and resources for professionals in the areas of protecting children, supporting families and strengthening communities
Australian Institute of Family Studies
Australia's foremost centre for research and information on family wellbeing
Association of Children's Welfare Agencies
Provides services to non government agencies that focus on children, young people and families
CREATE Foundation
Connects and empowers children and young people in care and improves the care system through activities, programs, training and policy advice
Families Australia
Peak, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to promoting the needs and interests of families

Provides legal information, advice and representation for socially and economically disadvantaged people. A free telephone advice is available.

Support services

The Family Relationships Advice Line
A national telephone service established to assist families affected by relationship or separation issues. Telephone 1800 050321.
Kids helpline
Kids helpline is a free 24 hour counselling service for kids and young people aged 5-25 years. Telephone 1800 551800, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Lifeline Crisis Counselling Service
Provides services that support and promote wellbeing, including a 24 hour counselling service and national service finder lists details of around 20,000 services and service providers around the country
Relationships Australia
Delivers a wide range of services including counselling, family dispute resolution, relationships education and parenting skills training, men and family relationships programs, specialised family violence programs, early intervention services, child-focused programs, and programs which specifically engage Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) families and communities
Parents without Partners
Focuses on social, educational and support needs of single parents
Dads in Distress
Support group for men going througdivorce and separation
Lone Fathers' Association of Australia
A self help group that provides information, advocacy and referral
National Council of Single Mothers and their Children
A self-help group that provides information, advocacy and referral services
Shared Parenting Council of Australia
Representative body for a range of parent, children, church and family law reform organisations
Parentlink ACT
Provides easily accessible and up-to-date information about parenting issues and family support systems in the community
Interrelate Family Centres
Provides personal and family counselling, family dispute resolution and relationship support programs

Australian Institute of Family Studies
The role of the Institute is to conduct research and communicate findings to policy makers, service providers and the broader community about factors that affect family wellbeing.
Australian Law Reform Commission
Conducts inquiries into areas of law reform at the request of the Attorney-General of Australia.
Federal Register of Legislation
Legal information retrieval system, incorporating the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments, previously ComLaw.
Child Support Agency's online guide
The Department of Human Services' technical resource, setting out the CSA's guide to the administration of the Child Support Scheme.
Department of Human Services
Provides a central policy and coordination role for the delivery of servicesDirects, coordinates and brokers improvements to policy on service delivery and service delivery reform across Human Services agencies (including Child Support Agency) from a whole-of-government perspective
Department of Education and Training
Information about programs and services in the areas of early child care and childhood education, school education, higher education, vocational education and training, international education and research.

State & territory government sites

Peak bodies of the community services and welfare sector, representing disadvantaged and low-income people

International child support sites

United Kingdom

Department for Work and Pensions
UK Child Support Agency fact sheets

New Zealand

Child Support, Inland Revenue
Family Assistance, Inland Revenue

Canada

Child Support, Department of Justice

United States

Office of Child Support Enforcement

Last updated: 27 June 2022 - 10:48am

In Australia, state and territory governments are responsible for receiving reports of suspected child abuse and neglect from members of the public. Reporting child abuse and neglect is a community-wide responsibility. Anyone who suspects, on reasonable grounds, that a child or young person is at risk of being abused and/or neglected should report it to the reporting authority in their state or territory.

Certain groups of people are required by law to report any suspicion of abuse or neglect of a child or young person to government authorities. Further information and guidelines regarding mandatory reporting can be found in the CFCA Resource Sheet: Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect.

If a child or young person has disclosed abuse or neglect to you, it is important to stay calm and reassure them that you will help them to be safe. For information on how to respond to disclosures of abuse, see the CFCA Practitioner Resource: Responding to Children and Young People's Disclosures of Abuse and CFCA webinar: Responding to disclosures of child abuse and neglect.

Parents and other family members may disclose to you concerns about not coping with their parenting responsibilities. Listening and providing support and practical help is important, while assessing whether there is a child at risk of abuse or neglect. Contact details and links to helplines and telephone counselling services that provide information, counselling support and service referral can be found in the CFCA Resource Sheet: Helplines, Telephone and Online Counselling Services for Children, Young People and Adults.

The NSW care and protection system requires reform. Recent legislative changes by the NSW government took the system in the wrong direction - against the advice of the community, Aboriginal and legal sectors, the NSW government implemented provisions which will fast-track adoptions and unnecessarily separate children from their families.

As NSW MP Greg Donelly said in the 2017 NSW Legislative Council General Purpose Standing Committee review of the system:

“Unless and until we as a society make a determined effort to find and examine the reasons behind why so many children and young people need protection provided by the state, we will not have started to come to terms with what is before us, let alone find ourselves in a position of developing policy responses that will work.”

The body of literature around care & protection indicates that unresolved and ongoing trauma and loss, past and current child welfare policies, socio-economic disadvantage, substance abuse, domestic violence and mental illness, are key to understanding the crises within our current child protection system.

Collectively, the 2017 Legislative Council Review and the literature tell us that early support services are pivotal to providing better outcomes for all stakeholders. In practice, this requires additional funding for evidence-based prevention and early support services, including legal assistance.

Community legal centres work in the network of early intervention services, frequently collaborating with the Department of Family and Community Services (FACS), the Legal Aid Commission and Aboriginal Legal Services (ALS) to deliver child protection legal services and casework. Amongst the NSW network of nearly 40 community legal centres, only twelve are currently funded as care partners.

As the peak body for community legal centres in NSW, Community Legal Centres NSW advocates for additional funding to the sector in order to expand the Community Legal Centre Care Partner network and to strengthen existing Community Legal Centre Care Partners.

CLC Care Partners Program defunded

On Thursday 29 August 2019, Community Legal Centres NSW received correspondence from Legal Aid NSW that the government agency was cutting funding from the CLC Care Partners Program, effective from the end of October. This decision has the potential to leave families with complex needs without the help and support required to keep their kids safe at home.

This funding totals just $423,000 across 12 organisations and supports the work community legal centres do with families encountering the care and protection system. This crucial early support can keep families together while ensuring the safety of the child.

Watch the ABC News report below.

Links and Resources:

Rosa (not her real name) is a 45-year-old mother and grandmother from a CALD background. She is married and works as a health professional. Her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend have a 9-month-old daughter, Eva. There are substance abuse and domestic violence issues in their relationship.

Rosa and her husband attended Macarthur Legal Centre (MLC) after being advised that FACS had taken Eva into Out of Home Care (OOHC) after a medical examination had determined that she had a second break in her leg (the first break had been undetected). The father is suspected of causing this harm.

Rosa was very distressed because her granddaughter had been seriously injured and was now in the care of strangers. Rosa was completely unaware of the Child Protection system and her right to request to be assessed as the primary caregiver for Eva.

Rosa was concerned that her request to be approved as a carer would be rejected as she herself had been sexually abused as a child. MLC solicitors advised Rosa about her merits as a carer for her own granddaughter and her strengths as a carer (supportive stable relationship, own home, employment as a health professional).

Rosa left MLC with a plan to contact the FACS caseworker and request an immediate assessment of her and her husband as carers for Eva. Within 48 hours Eva was placed in Rosa’s care. Parental Responsibility orders for Eva were then applied for with the consent of Rosa’s daughter. Eva remains in Rosa’s care and the mother and father have supervised contact with Eva whilst they sort out their individual issues.

Jacquie is under eighteen and had just given birth to a healthy baby who she was breastfeeding. When she was younger and living in another state she had to live with a relative for a while because of safety concerns in her family.

The day after she gave birth FACS came to the hospital and told her they were placing the baby in the care of the Minister and that she could not take her baby with her when she was discharged. FACS indicated that they had no concerns about her capacity as a mother, but they did have safety concerns about her family.

Jacquie had not had any contact with FACS prior to this time and nor had she been referred to early support services throughout her pregnancy. Further, no one had ever told her that they were concerned about where the baby would be living.

Veronica contacted Northern Rivers Community Legal Centre for advice after NSW Police officers attended her home to complete a welfare check on her two children. The police told Veronica that they had received reports that she had been smacking and yelling at her children.

We gave Veronica advice about the process of reports being made to FACS if children are considered to be at “Risk of Significant Harm”, including what to do if FACS make contact with her in relation to the children.

Three weeks later Veronica came back to us for further advice. FACS had made contact with her and asked her to attend a meeting to talk about the children, which Veronica didn’t want to attend, or to engage with FACS at all.

We advised Veronica of importance of attending the meeting and engaging with FACS, including:

the purpose of the meeting
the safety and risk assessment process,
the importance of understanding and showing insight into the safety concerns,
the importance of highlighting protective abilities and strengths
the importance of engaging with support services.

We arranged for a support worker to attend the meeting with Veronica to assist her with note taking. Veronica attended the meeting and followed our advice with regard to positive engagement, insight and protective behaviours.

Following this, the outcome of the safety assessment was ‘safe’ and FACS referred Veronica to a family support service for ongoing support. Veronica sad that she wouldn’t have engaged with FACS if she hadn’t had legal advice.