Access keys | Skip to primary navigation | Skip to secondary navigation | Skip to content | Skip to footer |

• Introduction
  • Acknowledgments
  • The Department of Child Safety
  • Relevant legislation
  • Other key departmental documents
  • Accountability for children in Queensland
  • Framework for the participation of children and young people in decision-making
  • Respecting diversity
  • Recognised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entities
  • Delegations
  • Child safety service centres: Staff roles and responsibilities
  • How to use the Child Safety Practice Manual
  • Practice maps
• Chapters
  • 1. Intake
  • 2. Investigation and assessment
  • 3. Use of powers
  • 4. Ongoing intervention
  • 5. Intervention with parental consent
  • 6. Intervention with a child protection order
  • 7. Children in out-of-home care
  • 8. Regulation of care
  • 9. Matters of concern
  • 10. Unborn children
  • 11. Transfers
  • 12. Professional supervision
  • 13. Critical incident reporting
  • 14. Child deaths
  • 15. Family Court of Australia
  • 16. Youth justice and child protection interface
  • 17. Interstate matters
  • General procedures
• Practice papers
• Resources
• Quicklinks
  • Acronyms
  • Glossary of terms
  • Previous versions
  • Printable version
  • Updates

1. Intake

• Key steps
  • 1. Gather information
  • 2. Assess the information
  • 3. Record the response
  • 4. Provide information
• What ifs
• Resources

1. Intake

Purpose

The department has a legislative responsibility to respond to information received about harm or risk of harm to a child, or an unborn child who may be at risk of harm after he or she is born. The purpose of intake is to receive information about child protection concerns from community members and other agencies, provide a response to the information in accordance with the responsibilities of the department and inform the community about the role of the department and provide information about child protection services.

Top of page

Key steps

1. Gather information about the child and family
2. Assess the information and decide the response
3. Record the response
4. Provide information to another CSSC or other agencies

What ifs - responding to specific areas of intake

Top of page

Standards

• All notifiers are treated professionally and with respect.
• Information is systematically gathered and analysed with decision-making guided by the structured decision making tools.
• Departmental history checks are conducted and assessed prior to the decision about the departmental response.
• The recognised entity is given a meaningful opportunity to participate in the decision about whether concerns for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child are recorded as a notification (Child Protection Act 1999, section 6).
• Any suspected criminal offence in relation to alleged harm to a child is reported immediately to the QPS (Child Protection Act 1999, section 14(2)).
• The information is recorded in ICMS in a timely manner.

Top of page

Practice skills (key areas for reflection)

• Did I engage well with the notifier and would they feel confident to re-contact the department in the future?
• Did I clarify information with the notifier to make sure I clearly understood their concerns?
• Did I gather all the information possible about the child, their family and other household members?
• Have I integrated all of the information gathered and critically analysed all the risk and protective factors when deciding whether there is a reasonable suspicion that a child is in need of protection?
• Is my assessment of the intake information holistic and focused on the child's safety and well-being?
• Have I considered what supports can be provided to this child and family?

Top of page

Authority

• Child Protection Act 1999, section 6-11, 14, 21, 21A, 22, 122, 159M, 159O and 186
• Policy no. 528-1: Intake
• Policy no. 111-1: Operation of the case management protocol between commonwealth agencies and state/territory welfare authorities for unsupported young people and the provision of youth support payment
• Policy no. 372-2: Recordkeeping
• Policy no. 390-2: Unborn children - responding to concerns prior to a child's birth

Top of page

Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy | Access keys | Other languages

© The State of Queensland (Department of Child Safety) 2008.

Queensland Government