Search for: within: Child Safety Services Child Safety Practice Manual Department of Communities

Our performance

• Child Protection System Framework
• Intake phase
  • Child Concern Reports data
  • Notifications data
• Investigation and assessment phase
  • Investigation and assessment data
  • Assessment orders data
  • Substantiations data
• Ongoing intervention phase
  • Intervention with parental agreement data
  • Short-term protection orders data
  • Living away from home data
  • Indigenous Child Placement Principle data
  • Carers data
• Ongoing intervention phase (Permanency planning)
  • Long-term protection orders data
  • Exiting out-of-home care data
  • Adoption data
• Child death case reviews data
• Matters of concern data
• Re-entry data
• Demographics data
• Human resources data
• Service centre zones and data
  • Brisbane South and Gold Coast
  • Brisbane North and Sunshine Coast
  • Central
  • Far Northern
  • Ipswich and Western
  • Logan and Brisbane West
  • Northern
• Glossary
• Table notes
• Maps
• Contacts
• Library

Investigation and assessment phase

All notifications recorded by the department are investigated and an assessment made as to whether the child is in need of protection.

The investigation and assessment process involves reviewing the child protection history of the child and family and determining who will be involved in the process.

Child safety officers then gather information by sighting and interviewing the child, and interviewing their parents. They may also gather information from other agencies and individuals.

Investigations will usually be conducted with the consent of the parents. Where this is not possible or appropriate, an application is made for an assessment order to enable the investigation to take place.

Once a child safety officer has considered all the information gathered during an investigation and completed an assessment, a decision is made about the appropriate outcome for each child and the need for ongoing intervention. There are three possible outcomes of a finalised investigation and assessment:

• substantiated - it is assessed that the child has experienced significant harm and/or there are identifiable risk factors that suggest the child may be harmed in the future. Where the risk of future harm is present, a child is considered to be in need of protection
• unsubstantiated - there is no evidence that the child has experienced significant harm and the assessment suggests no identifiable risk. In these instances the family may be referred to a support service to help them address risk factors that would lead to future harm
• no investigation and assessment outcome - the investigation has been unable to be commenced or completed due to circumstances beyond the control of the department and is subsequently closed. This may occur in circumstances where insufficient information is available or where a family is unable to be located or has moved interstate or overseas.

Performance information

• Investigation and assessment data
• Assessment orders data
• Substantiations data

Last updated

29 July 2009