Information and Instructions

• Receiving a referral
• Screening
• Using the Interaction Tool
• Recording an Interaction
• Children in the CEO's care
• Request from Corrective Services regarding child visits
• Selecting a priority level when progressing to Child Safety Investigation
• What is procedural fairness / natural justice?

Receiving a referral

Referrals of concern for children across the state are usually processed by the Statewide Referral and Response Service (SRRS). If the concerns are in relation to a child already in the CEO's care or part of an open family group, the district case managing the family should assess and respond to the concerns, including creating a new interaction or intake where required.

Family and Domestic Violence Response Teams (FDVRT's) will create an interaction and complete an interaction tool following receipt of Family and Domestic Violent Incident Reports from the police that meet the criteria. For more information on the FDVRT's and criteria for intervention, see Chapter 2.3 Family and Domestic Violence Response Team.

Emergency referrals after hours are received by the SRRS (Crisis Care Unit) on 1800 273 889.

If the referral relates to an unborn infant or a child aged under 3 years of age, you must consider the guidance in Chapter 2.2 High risk infants, focusing on what risk and protective factors may be relevant to your assessment. The High Risk Infant checklist (in related resources) will assist you to identify possible risk and protective factors as part of the initial assessment at interaction.  When creating a new interaction, Assist will prompt you to identify if the child is a high risk infant with a check box.  


On 1 November 2023 Department of Communities employees are mandatory reporters of child sexual abuse under the Act. If in the course of your work, paid or unpaid, you form a belief, on reasonable grounds, a child has been subject of sexual abuse then a mandatory report must be made via the Mandatory Reporting Service.   See entry 2.2 Mandatory Reports of Child Sexual Abuse for more information.  If you are the case manager for the child of concern you must also create an interaction for sexual abuse, in addition to submitting a mandatory report

When you are aware that a parent is pregnant and you have received concerns, create an Assist ID for an unborn infant. This should be completed even when the outcome is No further action (NFA). 


Referral methods are detailed on the Department of Communities website.




At times the Department is contacted by professionals, such as WA Police Force or the Department of Health, seeking information from the Department in relation to a family, parent, or child as part of their own investigation or response. The caller may discuss concerns for the child, or circumstances that warrant an assessment without explicitly making a child protection referral to the Department. These calls require an Assist history check and assessment to screen out child protection and/or FDV concerns. 


Refer to Chapter 4.2 Working with other agencies – memoranda of understanding and information sharing for further information about what information can and should be shared with other agencies.


Offer an interpreter when you receive a call from a referrer who is not proficient or confident in their use of English. Consider using an interpreter where a referral has been received and further information is required from someone who is not proficient in English. This includes an Aboriginal interpreter when working with Aboriginal families. See chapter 4.2 Language services – booking and payment for more information.

Who receives referrals?

Business hours

Most referrals are received by the SRRS. District offices may receive 'walk-ins' on occasion (clients presenting at reception to refer concerns). Unless there is a specific reason the district is not able to, and it has been agreed with the SRRS, the local district should manage and assess any concerns raised by people attending a district office. Alternatively, a duty officer may discuss and document concerns being reported and forward the information via email to the SRRS for further assessment.

Districts receive Intakes via the SRRS. They will also receive Intakes via Family and Domestic Violence Response Teams (FDVRT's) who manage and assess Family Violence Incident Reports (FDVIR).

District offices are also responsible for managing referrals where the child is already part of an open case being actively case managed or is in the CEO's care.


After hours

The SRRS (Crisis Care Unit) receives calls outside of work hours who have serious concerns about a child. Calls are also received when a victim of FDV is at risk and requires assistance to manage safety, or in other unforeseen crises. Every call received is treated as a possible referral and is assessed accordingly.

What do we do with referrals?

Responses to referrals must align with the functions and powers of the CEO set out in sections 9, 21 and 31 of the Act and undertaken by authorised officers. It is your responsibility to consider if there is a role for the Department to:


• refer or provide social services to the child or family named in the referral

• make any inquiries that are reasonably necessary for the purpose of determining whether action should be taken to safeguard or promote the child's safety and/or wellbeing, or the safety and/or wellbeing of other children, and

• take action, or cause other action to be taken, to promote the child's safety and/or wellbeing or the safety and/or wellbeing of other children.
  

At a minimum, and where it is safe to do so, gather information from the following sources:


• The referrer, who can clarify any points as required and may be able to provide additional information.
  

• Assist, which may include records of previous involvement and similar concerns reported by other sources.
  

• The FVIR Triage system which can provide a history of WA Police Force involvement in relation to family and domestic violence (FDV), as well as some basic information about an adult's criminal history.
  

• The parents and/or carers for the child who will be able to provide context about the concerns and additional information about the child and family structure.
  

Record all referrals and the subsequent assessment in an Interaction on Assist. Make an outcome decision and record this as soon as possible after receiving the referral. 


Where it is safe to do so, parents should be contacted and advised that inquiries are being made to determine if there is a role for the Department. You are not required to advise parents of the specific actions being taken at interaction level (including when engaging in expanded activities), unless it is in the child's best interest to do so. Further information will be provided to parents if an intake is completed. It may be helpful to explain to parents that while inquiries are being made, they are not an 'open case' and that inquiries are being made to avoid unnecessary periods of contact with the Department.




Expanded Activities





In some circumstances, and following consultation with the Team Leader, inquiries outside of speaking with the parents and referrer can be made through expanded activities. There is a 'tick-box' option on Assist to indicate where you have undertaken expanded activities. This will also show in the 360 view against the interaction, which will assist when taking a family's history. 


Expanded activities can include requests made under s.23 of the Act, speaking with professionals engaged with the child, speaking with relevant family members, conducting a Connect for Safety check, or making an interstate liaison request. When initiating expanded activities, this should be noted on the interaction in Assist.  


Child Assessment Interviews (CAI's) with parental consent and home visits still require Intake to Initial Inquiry. If there are concerns that warrant interviewing the child without parental consent, you must complete an Intake to a Child Safety Investigation (CSI); if the interview involves a child in care it must be conducted as a Child Safety Investigation (CSI). The District Director for the receiving district is responsible for approving a s.33 request. See Chapter 2.2 Conducting a Child Safety Investigation for further information.




You must consider the referral in the context of the family and household members, including whether there are any siblings or other children affected, and/or whether the mother is pregnant. It is likely that if one child requires an assessment around their safety, their siblings (including unborn) and other children in the home will be similarly at risk.

Consider all information gathered, and based on professional judgement in conjunction with the Interaction Tool's recommendation, determine if the matter requires:

1. no further action (Interaction Template- No Further Action)

2. further inquiries required in addition to expanded activities to determine if there is a role for the Department (Interaction Template - Intake to Initial Inquiry)

3. a referral to an early intervention service, for example, Family Support Networks, or

4. action to promote the safety and wellbeing of, and/or action to safeguard the child and/or other children (Interaction Template- Intake to Child Safety Investigation).
   




Assist history check





Where a referral is received by the Department, it is your role to assess the information within the referral in addition to other information already available, to identify if there are any child protection concerns. This includes conducting a thorough Assist history search for the child of concern, any person believed to have harmed the child, other relevant family members and Family Groups associated with any relevant person.

Always conduct a history search on receipt of a concern, even if the family is not believed to have had prior contact with the Department. If the family has no previous history, and you complete an Interaction, ensure you update Assist with new ID's for all relevant family members to ensure an accurate reflection of the contact. Review Assist thoroughly, as creating new ID's where there are existing records can lead to confusion and a loss of critical information. Update addresses and other contact details when new information is available and conduct a Habitat search where this is useful and appropriate. 


It is your responsibility to review the Family and Domestic Violence FVIR Triage Application. This will provide you with any previous FDV incident reports from WA Police, which include:


• the individuals involved
  

• if there were any children present

• what actions were taken by WA Police Force

• if any crimes were committed, and

• a brief criminal history for individuals identified in the report.

When entering data from a referral into Assist, input relevant cultural information that is known at the time of writing the Interaction. All attempts should be made to confirm the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and/or culturally and linguistically diverse status for the child and relevant family members is entered accurately on Assist.





Top

Screening

​Connect for Safety 


Connect for Safety is a national data matching portal that allows child protection workers to identify if other states and territories hold information for a child, family, or other person relevant to a child protection concern being assessed. 


If the Assist history check indicates a family or individual is known to be transient or has relocated from another state, check the Objective file for any previous Connect for Safety searches or an Interstate Liaison request to exchange information. If there is no information on file, or where the information on file is likely to be out of date, consult with the Team Leader to determine if the concerns for the child warrant a Connect for Safety search. The search can be conducted at any point of contact, but where you are completing an interaction, the search should be conducted under expanded activities. For information on how to conduct a Connect for Safety search, refer to Chapter 2.2. Connect for Safety.  


If the search indicates a family or individual has a child protection history held with another jurisdiction, continue with a request to exchange information. For information on how to request to share information with another jurisdiction, refer to Chapter 3.4 Interstate and New Zealand Liaison.  

Identifying high risk infants.


'High risk infants' refers to an unborn infant or a child under three years of age and at increased likelihood of significant harm or death due to the presence of risk factors (parental, environmental, or physical). If you identify a high risk infant at the time of interaction, consult with the Team Leader before completing the interaction. If your assessment, in consultation with the Team Leader, determines that an intake is warranted, the identification of a high risk infant requires a Priority 1 response. 

Use the High Risk Infant checklist when gathering information. This tool will assist in the development of questions, consider where information is missing and ensure you have the correct information to accurately determine risk. 


Family and domestic violence


When receiving a referral, assume that FDV is present in all cases and complete screening processes, such as checking the FVIR . If there are any indications that FDV has been or may be perpetrated, the FDV Risk Assessment Tool may be helpful in screening out FDV and identifying high risk factors. Consider utilising the Common Risk Assessment and Risk Management Framework (CRARMF in related resources) when engaging in expanded activities. 


If you are not able to speak with the adult victim-survivor directly, or the adult victim-survivor does not want to complete the risk assessment tool, you can ask some simple screening questions, such as:   Can you speak freely about your relationship and any worries you may have? If not, do you have an alternate method of contact where we can talk about your worries and safety? If your partner knew you were taking about your relationship to the Department, how do you think he would react? What do you think he would do? Do you ever worry your partner might hurt you, the children, pets, or himself? Do you ever feel scared of his behaviour? If so, can you provide some examples? Does your partner limit you spending time with friends or family? Does your partner control other areas of your life, like how you spend money, how you dress, accessing healthcare or engaging in work?  When speaking to a referrer who is not the adult victim-survivor, ask: Have you ever worried that (perpetrator) might hurt (adult victim-survivor) or (child victim-survivors)? Can you give some examples of why you do or do not worry?  If you believe that victim-survivors may be at immediate risk, or an adult victim-survivor planning on ending the relationship, you must consult with your Team Leader and consider taking safety actions before ending the call.

You should be aware of the high-risk factors that may indicate significant risk of serious injury and/or intimate partner homicide. Particularly when the matter is urgent, you should be able to assess the level of risk during the call and make decisions about what type of support and/or intervention is required.


High-risk factors include:

• Use of a weapon by the perpetrator to threaten or harm an adult or child victim-survivor.

• Escalation in severity and/or frequency of the violence.

• Threats of violence and/or death threats, or actual harm to an adult and/or child victim-survivor.

• Sexual assault, including rape and coercive/unwanted sexual contact. 

• Non-fatal strangulation of the adult victim-survivor.

• Stalking of the adult victim-survivor by the perpetrator.

• Jealousy and/or controlling behaviours by the perpetrator.

• Recent separation or a decision to separate.

• Actual or threatened violence towards children victim-survivors.

• Actual or threatened violence towards pets.

• Perpetrator access to a weapon.

• Threats of suicide made by the perpetrator.

• Problematic use of alcohol or other drugs by the perpetrator.

• Current unpredictable behaviours associated with an unmanaged mental health issue experienced by the perpetrator. 
  

• Very high levels of fear experienced by the adult victim-survivor and/or where the adult victim-survivor believes the perpetrator may seriously hurt or kill them or child victim-survivors.
  

Use the high-risk referral form with guidance where there is a risk of imminent risk of serious injury and/or death, and where there are no general vacancies available (in related resources). 

When completing a high-risk referral, you should: 


1. Check there are no refuge vacancies. A referral to a general refuge vacancy should be made before a high-risk bed is considered, even when there are high-risk factors present

2. Call the lead agency for the area covering where the victim lives and advise them you will be sending through a high-risk referral. Provide a verbal account of the situation, including what high-risk factors are present 
   

3. Email the high-risk referral to the relevant lead refuge. Ensure it is filled-out correctly and comprehensively. This will help the refuge provide the most appropriate supports to adult and child victim-survivors, and 

4. Provide a taxi to the refuge where required and support the victim to arrive safely.
   

If the lead agency in the adult victim-survivor's catchment area has no high-risk beds available, it is their responsibility to secure safe accommodation for adult and child victim-survivors.


Where you have identified high-risk factors in a referral, reflect this in question 7 of the Interaction Tool.




There may be situations where the presenting issue is directly related to the impacts of FDV, but where FDV will not be visible unless it is specifically screened for e.g. school non-attendance for compulsory school-aged children. For this reason, on receipt of a referral for non-school attendance you should:


• contact the referrer to gather further information
  

• conduct screening for FDV, and
  

• apply the Interaction Tool
  

The referral form has a question about FDV. If this box has been ticked, it is particularly important to gather information to determine risk for the adult and child victim-survivors. FDV should be 'screened out' for all referrals and a rationale is required when selecting '0' to indicate there is no evidence of FDV. This includes proactively re-screening new referrals for FDV where it has previously been ruled out for the same family.


Where the adult victim-survivor is protective towards the child, the Department still has a role to investigate concerns when there is an indication of significant harm to a child victim-survivor, or where there is a likelihood of significant harm to a child victim-survivor.


For more information about making an assessment in the context of FDV, see Chapter 2.3 Family and Domestic Violence.


Concerns regarding high risk serious offenders


If you are concerned about the safety of a child who may be having contact with an individual convicted under the Dangerous Sex Offender Act 2006 or the High Risk Serious Offenders Act 2020, conduct a comprehensive assessment. 


If the referrer is WA Police Force, gather information, verbally or via other means, about previous relevant convictions as part of your assessment. If the referral has come from another source and following consultation and approval from the Team Leader consider requesting verbal or written information under s.23 of the Act from WA Police as an expanded activity at interaction. Section 23 of the Act allows you to request information on behalf of the CEO when it is in the best interests of a child. Formal s.23 requests can be made within expanded activities at interaction, or at initial inquiry.


If WA Police Force confirm an individual has been convicted of a child sex offence, and this person is currently or has recently had contact with a child, reflect this in question 3 of the interaction Tool.


When recording your assessment, carefully consider what information is included and how you write it in consultation with the Team Leader. 


There are very specific laws about what you can and cannot document in relation to people convicted of certain crimes. For example, you cannot refer to the Sex Offender Management Squad (SOMS) or the National Child Offender System (NCOS - previously known as ANCOR) in any case notes relating to an individual. There are strict limitations regarding access to and confidentiality of, the information contained on the NCOS.


Refer to the offender as having been convicted of 'xxx offence' (e.g. Joe Blogs was convicted of indecent dealing with a child under 13 years). Where you are unsure if a person has been convicted, but there is strong evidence to suggest they have previously abused a child, refer to the person as being 'accused of an offence against a child'. If the person is facing charges but has not been convicted, always note the person is alleged to have perpetrated sexual offenses against a child.


Where an individual is required to report to the SOMS because of their convictions, document that they are 'required to report to the relevant section in the Western Australia Police'. For more information, see Chapter 4.2 Case alerts.


Top

Using the Interaction Tool

The purpose of the Interaction Tool is to provide a consistent approach to child protection assessment and to prompt you to consider all aspects of a child's safety and wellbeing. Relevant training must be completed before using the Interaction Tool. You must utilise this tool in every Interaction to inform your assessment and decisions, including if the Department has a role to investigate child protection concerns or where an FVIR has been received for an incident where a child or a pregnant person was present.




The Interaction Tool should be used to guide information gathering, to form questions and to show you where there are gaps in existing information. Use scaling questions to critically reflect and think through your responses. Once scored, the Interaction Tool will provide you with a number between 0-10 in 0.5 increments, and a recommendation regarding Intake. Consultation is particularly important when the score sits between 4.5 and 5.5. The score is a recommendation, the final decision to Intake or not is based on professional judgement.


An Interaction Tool is required for all new reports of concern for a child. Where 'Child Protection' has been selected in the Interaction as the primary concern, completion of the Interaction Tool is necessary to progress or complete the interaction on Assist. 


The Interaction Tool is accessible from a link in the Interaction screen on Assist. Once every question has been recorded, the 'complete' button will be enabled. When you 'complete' the Interaction Tool, the recommendation and score will auto populate to the Interaction screen. The Interaction Tool can be updated while the Interaction is open. If a child is included in the Interaction, and 'Child Protection' or 'Domestic Violence' are recorded as issues, you will not be able to complete or progress the Interaction to Intake unless the Interaction Tool has been completed.


Top

Recording an Interaction

When writing your assessment in the Interaction, be concise and focus on assessing and analysing the information available at the time of the interaction. The Interaction Tool recommendation and score should correlate to your assessment.

Include the following information under the relevant headings:


Summary:

Write the specific unit/team that received the referral and a summary of the concern, for example, SRRS - CIT – Neighbour saw child hit with stick by father.

Details:

Include all information from the referral in this section only and ensure the details of the concern for the child are clear. If the referral has come from a referral form, ensure the information is in a readable format when transferred to Assist. If the referral came from a telephone call or email, note the time and details of the referrer at the top.

Initial Assessment:

This section is where you write your formal assessment.

All actions taken and information gathered following the initial referral is included in this section in dot-point form under the heading "Actions Taken". Where details of the actions taken contain considerable information, document in a case note and reference the Objective file in the relevant dot-point, e.g. Phone call to mother (See Objective ref A79843187 for details).

There may be situations where the child of concern has not previously been Intaked and will not have an Objective file.


If…	Then…
The assessment will be Intaked to Initial Inquiry or CSI on this occasion	Write the case note and add to Objective after the Intake has been completed You will not be able to include an Objective reference in the body of assessment Forward notes to the TL with the draft assessment for review
​The child of concern has not previously been assessed, but the family has had earlier contact with the Department. This Interaction will not be Intaked	Add the notes to the correct Family Group Ensure the new child has been allocated an Assist ID and added to the Family Group
​Neither the child of concern nor their immediate family has been Intaked before This Interaction will not be Intaked	Create a contact file for the child of concern AND each parent

Be rigorous and clear in your assessment, outcome and rationale for decisions, and follow the relevant templates, depending on the outcome of your assessment.


Refer to the following templates (in related resources):

1. Interaction Template - No further action.

2. Interaction Template - Intake to Initial Inquiry.

3. Interaction Template - Intake to Child Safety Investigation.
   

What do we have to record?

If there is insufficient information recorded in an Interaction on Assist, it is nearly impossible for someone to locate it again and important information can be lost. This can include situations where there is little or no context and/or no identifying client information.

There are some circumstances where there is no value in recording an Interaction. Use your professional judgement in determining these. Records should be purposeful and contain enough information about the situation and client that they can be easily recalled later.

You are not required to record every phone call that you receive; telephone logs are used for this purpose.

Examples where you may not be required to record an Interaction include:


• request for bed count (by a service provider with no client identifying details)

• internal transfers within districts, e.g. within SRRS
  

• incorrect calls to the service
  

• callers wishing to provide charitable donations
  

• callers enquiring about employment opportunities
  

• callers where no identifying information is provided, or the caller refuses to provide information
  

• warm transfers to other services where no client information is provided
  

• request for taxi transport by lone adult (when not a victim of FDV) and where the request is denied.
  

• request for information about external service providers, and/or
  

• adult callers (repeat callers) where no child is identified, and no child protection concerns are identified.
  

For cases open to the Department, forward to the local district office for their follow up. If the call is transferred through to the district, or the caller is invited to call back within business hours, you are not required to record the call. If the caller provides information requiring assessment include this information in a case note or interaction. 


Top

Children in the CEO's care

In most instances, concerns for children in the CEO's care should be sent directly to the allocated case manager on Assist and/or the district managing the open case. This is not the usual process in the Mandatory Reporting Service (MRS) and/or afterhours in the SRRS (CCU).

Statewide Referral and Response Service - Mandatory Reporting Service

Where concerns are received for children in the CEO's care in SRRS (MRS) and it is business hours, consult with the case manager allocated on Assist. The Child Protection Worker may already be aware of the concerns. If they are not, they may have additional information and knowledge about the child that can help inform your assessment. In consultation with the Child Protection Worker, and depending on the concerns, it may be appropriate to complete a new Intake or to add sexual abuse concerns to an existing CSI. If a decision is made to complete a new Intake, the Child Protection Worker who received the concern first is responsible for completing the Assist recording.

Statewide Referral and Response Service - Crisis Care Unit

Where SRRS (CCU) receives concerns for a child in the CEO's care afterhours, the priority is to ensure the child's immediate safety and wellbeing. Children already in the CEO's care are particularly vulnerable and the Department holds responsibility for their care and wellbeing. Consider what actions and responses are required to meet their additional needs. If the concern relates to an event or situation that creates a significant risk of substantiation of serious harm then refer to CPM entry 2.1 Responding to concerns for children in care – critical incidents.


The Interaction Tool must be used to assess the nature and severity of the risk reported for a child in the CEO's care and to help you to determine if an Intake should be completed. When an Intake is completed for a child in the CEO's care, a Duty of Care notification will automatically be generated. See Chapter 2.1.4 Responding to concerns for children in care – overview, for further information.

If you determine there is no further role for the Department related to the concern raised in the referral, email a reference of the Interaction to the CPW managing the case for their awareness.

This provides transparency and ensures the Child Protection Worker is aware of all relevant issues for the child, including what decisions have been made or actions taken by other workers. 


Top

Request from Corrective Services regarding child visits

You may receive a request from the Department of Justice - Corrective Services (Corrective Services) for a prisoner who has restricted visitation and that person wishes to have contact with children in their family. Prisoners may have their visits restricted in circumstances where their offences are in relation to abuse of a child or an offence that included serious violence.


These assessments may be completed at Interaction based on information already available, including on Assist, and additional information gathered using expanded activities, where necessary. If parents are not contacted, include your rationale in the response letter, for example, 


"This assessment has been made using information gathered during recent Child Safety Investigation (CSI) conducted in March 2023. No additional information was required to make our assessment and contact with parents was not required."  


As part of your assessment, you will be requested to make a recommendation to support or not to support the prisoner's application for the child visit. Corrective Services will make the final decision. Your assessment should consider the following: 


• the prisoners release date and if the child is likely to have ongoing contact with the prisoner on release
  
  

• if there is a current safety plan in place. If so, is the non-offending parent engaging in safety planning with support from the safety network? If not, is a safety plan likely to be required for contact visits and to prepare for release? 

• is the non-offending parent appropriately supportive of the child and likely to meet their needs in a difficult situation, for example, where harm to the child has been denied. 

• is the child able to provide their views and wishes about seeing the prisoner? Are they likely to understand possible risks (including emotional trauma) associated with seeing the prisoner? 

• has the prisoner acknowledged or taken responsibility for the harm they caused to the child? Does the prisoner understand that their actions during a visit may contribute to additional trauma to the child? 
  

Unless there are exceptional circumstances, you should not recommend visits in the following situations:

• The non-offending parent/caregiver is unwilling or unable to create safety or to follow a safety plan.

• The child in question was harmed by the offences (even if this child was not the primary victim) and there is an unacceptable risk posed to the child the prisoner is requesting to visit.

• The child is considered a mature minor and is unable or unwilling to acknowledge the potential risks posed by the prisoner.

• The child is highly vulnerable, due to disability or other factors, and the risks are unlikely to be able to be managed safely.

• The child has indicated they do not want to participate in a visit with the prisoner and/or the prison.
  

The request should include the identifying information of the prisoner, child victims and caregivers. It should also include relevant reports and sentencing remarks made by the magistrate in relation to their offence.


Corrective Services will attach the response template to the emailed request for assessment. Complete the assessment and provide a response within six weeks, or sooner if the:


• prisoner is due for imminent release
  

• child is in the CEO's care, or
  

• there is relevant previous history available and current involvement with the family.
  

If you are unable to meet these timeframes, contact the Corrective Services on AC-SM-ChildVisits@correctiveservices.wa.gov.au to discuss the extension process. Any forms completed should be sent internally to cpfs.dcsreferrals@cpfs.wa.gov.au and a scanned copy should also be placed in the Objective file (child and prisoner).


If you are unsure that the request requires an assessment from child protection, consult with the Team Leader. If the request for an assessment is not warranted, discuss your rationale with Corrective Services who may remove the Restricted Visit alert. 





If in the process of your assessment you learn about new concerns for a child, including an unborn child, you must complete a separate interaction, complete the Interaction Tool and consider whether there is a further role for the Department.

If a prisoner is does not agree with the decision, they may appeal the decision with Corrective Services. Appeals can only be made by the prisoner. When an appeal is received, Corrective Services may request further information from the Department to inform their review process. 


In some circumstances the Department may receive a child visit request and a female prisoner is pregnant. If this occurs, you must complete a separate assessment in relation to the safety of the unborn child and consider progressing the Intake for pre-birth planning. Refer to Chapters 2.2 High-risk infants and Pre-birth planning for further information.

Top

Selecting a priority level when progressing to Child Safety Investigation

At the end of your assessment, if you are progressing to CSI, you are required to select a priority level that determines the timeline for commencing the CSI. This decision should be made in consultation with your team leader.


If a high risk infant has been identified at interaction, Assist will automatically assign the Intake as a priority 1.


Refer to Chapter 2.2 Conducting a Child Safety Investigation for further information on selecting a priority level. 


Top

What is procedural fairness / natural justice?

​Procedural fairness, also referred to as natural justice, is concerned with the procedures used by a decision-maker to obtain an outcome, rather than the actual outcome reached. Principles of procedural fairness should be applied to all decisions that may negatively affect the rights, interests or legitimate expectations of an individual, this can include actions taken as part of an Interaction.

To ensure procedural fairness is reflected in all decision-making processes throughout the life of a case, be open and transparent, while still managing safety concerns. This should include:


• advising the parent why the Department has decided to become involved with or to contact the family

• speaking with the parent about the concerns

• offering the parent an opportunity to talk about their family situation to help inform decisions being made by the Department about involvement with their family

• advising the parent, particularly if the case is open to Initial Inquiry, that you will be making further inquiries and may discuss the concerns outside of the family, and

• that all concerns and discussions documented on a child protection database and will be available for future reference if subsequent concerns are raised. 
  

The following three principles underpin our processes:


1. The Hearing Rule – the decision-maker must give an opportunity to an individual whose interests may be adversely affected by their decision the opportunity to be heard, before the decision is made.

2. The Bias Rule – the decision-maker should be unbiased in the matter to be decided.

3. The No Evidence Rule – the decision that is made must be based on logical evidence (proven on the balance of probabilities – that is, there is a real possibility, that cannot be sensibly ignored, having regard to the nature and gravity of the feared harm in the particular case).

The Department follows the Western Australia Ombudsman's Guidelines for procedural fairness. All authorised officers should be familiar with the concept of procedural fairness and aim to promote this in their work.


If an individual does not feel that they have not been treated fairly and have been denied procedural fairness, they can make formal complaint via the Complaints Management Unit.  


Top