Information and Instructions

• Overview
• Who has access to the QCR
• The QCR and Quarterly Care Report
• The QCR and care planning
• The QCR and the Culture and Support Plan

Overview

The QCR is used to record known information about children in the CEO’s care. The QCR stores information recorded by child protection workers about a child’s safety and care needs, and includes links to important documents in Objective, such as the safety plan or health assessment reports. This allows relevant staff to have easy access to important information when required (for example, Statewide Referral and Response Service staff can access information after hours).

The QCR stores information across the following nine dimensions of care:

1. safety
2. care arrangements
3. health
4. education
5. social and family relationships
6. recreation and leisure
7. emotional and behavioural development
8. identity and culture, and 
9. legal and financial (note: this dimension refers to any legal claims or issues, and financial issues such as inheritance – not funding).

Each of these dimensions has prompts for what information should be recorded to assist in meeting the particular and special needs of the child. Child protection workers must complete as much detail as possible in the QCR. This supports best practice for all children.

If there is any person with restricted contact to the child, child protection workers must record a Case Alert in Assist including the details. For details about recording an alert, refer to Chapter 4.2: Case alerts.

The QCR is a dynamic document, and information can be added and amended until approved (by the team leader or district director). The QCR should be updated regularly with information gathered from discussions with the child, their carer, parents or other stakeholders (for example, a health professional, teacher, Aboriginal practice leader etc.).

The child’s Aboriginal or culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) status must be entered in the Person Details (in Assist) before the QCR can be approved – i.e. the child’s status cannot be recorded as “unknown”.

Once the QCR is approved, information recorded in each dimension will auto populate (in an editable format) to the provisional care plan or care plan document, Child Information Form Referral, and forms part of the Cultural Plan.

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Who has access to the QCR

Only workers with access to Assist can read a child's QCR. 

QCRs can increase child protection workers' understanding of the child’s circumstances, particularly in the absence of the child’s case manager and after hours.  Child protecton workers can add to and  update information in the QCR, but if they are not the child’s case manager, they must inform the case manager as soon as possible by email.

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The QCR and Quarterly Care Report

The QCR should be approved quarterly. Once approved, it will generate a Quarterly Care Report. It is possible to approve the QCR at other times as required. Child protection workers should check that the information recorded in the QCR is correct before requesting approval.

Refer to the Assist User Guide – Child Information Portal and QCR for information on navigating to the QCR and record information.

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The QCR and care planning

Information recorded in each dimension of the approved QCR populates into the child’s care plan (or provisional care plan) document.

To make sure that the information populated to the care plan (or provisional care plan) is correct, child protection workers should check the QCR and make any necessary amendments before having it approved, particularly before the development, review or modification of a care plan. However, information that auto populates to the care plan document is editable.

Once the child’s care plan (or provisional care plan) is approved, the decisions, steps and measures from each dimension populate into the relevant sections of the QCR, replacing any previous version. This information is not editable in the QCR and is used in the next review to progress towards the new care plan (or provisional care plan).

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The QCR and the Culture and Support Plan

Child protection workers must consider the current and future cultural needs of all children in the CEO’s care and record the details in the ‘Identity and Culture’ dimension of the QCR. Some considerations include:

• Does the child have an ongoing connection to culture through family and community?
• What cultural group and country/place does the child remember and/or identify?
• Does the child speak or communicate in a language other than English?
• Are there any cultural and/or spiritual occasions or beliefs important to the child?
• Are there any special considerations in relation to identity and culture for the child or their family?

When recording information for an Aboriginal child, child protection workers should consult with an Aboriginal practice leader or other senior Aboriginal officer to discuss the child’s cultural needs.

When recording information for a child from a CaLD background, child protection workers should discuss the child’s cultural needs with the parents (in the first instance) and the broader family and community.

The last approved QCR also forms part of the Culture and Support Plan, which is published for all children in the CEO's care when the child’s care plan or provisional care plan is approved.  As the Culture and Support Plan is a read only version of extracts from the approved care plan document and the approved QCR, it is recommended that appropriate endorsement of the QCR is sought before approval.

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