Introduction

Home: Workers: Counselling Issues: Responding to child abuse

Acknowledgement

This information has been reproduced with the kind permission of the Department of Human Services Victoria. Many of the DHS booklets on this site are no longer available in printed format, but all inquiries should be directed to the Protection and Care Publishing Unit, Department of Human Services Melbourne (03) 9616 7013.

© Copyright State of Victoria 2002
This work is copyright and if reproduced reference must be cited as follows: Responding to Child Abuse, Victorian Government Publishing Service 2002.

Produced by Child Protection and Care, Victorian Department of Human Services.

All rights reserved. Except for the purposes of education, fair dealing and use within the intended environment, no portion of this document should be reproduced or copied for any purposes, including general exhibition, lending, resale and hire.

Introduction

Children have the right to be physically and emotionally safe at all times.

Children are the most vulnerable members of our community. They do not have the power to stop abuse. They rely on others to help them. The responsibility for making sure that children are safe and that their needs are met is shared between the family, the general community, community agencies, professionals working with children, police and government. Each has a significant role to play to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and young people and to help prevent harm from occurring.

Child abuse harms children physically and emotionally. The initial effects and the long-term consequences of child abuse affect the individual, their family and the community.

Early identification and effective intervention can lessen the initial and long-term effects of child abuse and promote recovery of the children and families concerned.

The information in this booklet is for all professionals working with children.

What this booklet is about

This booklet has been developed to assist those professionals whose work brings them into contact with children and young people. It contains information about sharing responsibility for protecting children, the role of Child Protection, the legal definition of when a child is in need of protection, definitions and indicators of types of harm, and how to respond to child abuse in order to help and protect children.

It also provides information about mandatory reporting legislation, who is mandated to report child abuse, how to make a notification to Child Protection services and what happens once a notification has been made. Finally, it outlines the ongoing responsibilities of the notifier.

Sharing responsibility for child protection

The Victorian government policy promotes and supports early intervention with families. Responsibility for ensuring that the needs of children are met, and that they are safe within their families, is shared between the family, the community and the government. When adults who care for children do not meet their responsibilities, are abusive or exploit their positions of power, then the wider child protection system becomes responsible for taking action. The type of service that is provided by Child Protection will be determined by the seriousness of the risk of harm to the child's safety and wellbeing. The broad system of services that support children and families can be seen as a continuum of service delivery that can be divided into three tiers:

• universal (or primary) services
• secondary services
• tertiary (statutory) services.

1. Universal (or primary) services

Primary prevention services are universal services. They are offered to everyone. Primary services include antenatal services, maternal child health services, and preschool education. The goal of primary services is to provide support and education for children and families before problems arise. In many cases, primary services help to prevent abuse and neglect occurring.

2. Secondary services

Secondary services offer programs that identify and reduce the personal and social stresses on parents that lead to family breakdown and/or child abuse. There are many community-based agencies and organisations that support families and help them overcome significant problems. Services include in-home family support, financial or family counselling, respite care and various parenting and self help groups.

3. Tertiary (statutory) services

Tertiary, or statutory, services include services for children who have been at risk of significant harm where intervention is needed to ensure the ongoing safety of the child. These services include the statutory Child Protection services and out of home care services for children who are unable to live at home.

Families are now presenting with more complex needs than they were ten years ago. Responding to concerns about children and families is not easy. Sharing the responsibility is much more effective and less stressful than acting individually. In recognition of this shared responsibility, it is important to look at the availability of other services (primary and secondary) when making a decision to notify Child Protection.

The role of Child Protection

Within the service continuum, the Child Protection service has a particular role prescribed by the Children and Young Persons Act 1989. It has responsibility for those children who are at risk of significant harm, and their families. This service only comes into play when services in the primary and secondary system are unable to ensure the safety and welfare of the child in collaboration with the family.

Child Protection provides child-centred, family-focused services to protect children and young people from significant harm resulting from abuse or neglect within the family unit. It also ensures that children and young people receive services to deal with the impact of abuse and neglect on their wellbeing and development. The best protection for children is usually within the family. In making decisions, Child Protection considers the child's safety and wellbeing to be of paramount importance.

The functions of Child Protection are to:

• receive notifications from people who believe on reasonable grounds that a child is in need of protection
• provide advice to people who report such concerns
• investigate matters where it is believed that a child is at risk of significant harm
• refer children and families to services that assist in providing the ongoing safety and wellbeing of the children
• take matters before the Children's Court if the child's safety cannot be assured within the family
• supervise children on legal orders granted by the Children's Court.

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Disclaimer Copyright Updated: 23 Jun 2010