Keeping Children Safe

Miranda BainProgram Manager RAI & SACS Act for Kids

&

Kerri ChardPrincipal Advisor, Student Protection

Department of Education

Scaling questions

1. How confident are you in your ability to identify vulnerability

issues for children and young people? 1 to 10

2. How confident are you in your knowledge of services to refer

vulnerable children and young people into? 1 to 10

Values – our Hats

• Professional

Vs.

• Personal

KIDS NEED CARDS

Small group task:

Identify what Kids Need

What Kids don’t need

What Kids sometimes Need

How do you support vulnerable children and families

within your community/neighbourhood network?

How can you do it better in the future?

Introducing Hazel

• Hazel is 4 years old and attends the KLM Childcare. She has been

attending the centre for nearly 2 years. Currently she attends 2 days

per week but you would like to see her come a bit more and are trying

to connect with mum to talk about increasing her days. You suspect

Hazel doesn’t have a lot of structure, routine and stimulation at home.

• Since coming to the centre, staff have documented concerns about

her health and wellbeing. She is due to start school in 8 months and

you are really worried about how she will go.

• Hazel has a little brother who is 14 months old – he doesn’t attend

your centre.

Centre worries for Hazel

• Hazel’s arrival to the centre is erratic. Most days she gets there about

10am, but some mornings she is dropped off at 6.30am when the centre

opens;

• Hazel’s bag is usually not cleaned out. When she was younger, she would

have old bottles in the bag with curdled milk. Often she has mouldy wet

clothes from days before. She often smells unclean. Staff have spare

clothes for Hazel they have bought in and usually give her a bath;

• Hazel is slow to start her day at the centre and is usually tired. She has

one friend she seeks out, but when that friend isn’t there, Hazel plays by

herself and doesn’t interact with the rest of the children;

• Staff have observed she struggles with waiting her turn and following

instructions to line up (eg: for a drink) and has a couple of “meltdowns”

each day;

Centre worries for Hazel

• Hazel still struggles with toileting and needs quite a bit of prompting and

help from staff;

• Hazel has been slow in her speech and language, and her fine and

gross motor skills are the lowest in her cohort, she gets easily frustrated

and will generally avoid tasks requiring fine motor skills;

• Hazel interacts ok with her mum when she picks her up and seems

happy to go home;

• Her mother presents as unkempt and is a quiet lady. She seems to

avoid speaking with staff and she is difficult to engage and build

rapport;

• You are aware that Hazel was removed by the Department of Child

Safety when she was a baby

Reasonable Suspicion

• Under the Child Protection Act 1999, teachers are mandated to report

physical or sexual abuse of a child under the age of 18;

• Teachers are defined as registered teachers at a registered school;

• Anyone can report to Child Safety a reasonable suspicion that a child

may be in need of protection.

Significant Harm

• Any detrimental effect of a significant nature on the child's physical,

psychological or emotional well-being.

• Significant harm can be caused by physical, psychological or

emotional abuse or neglect, or sexual abuse or exploitation.

• Significant harm can be caused by a single act, omission or

circumstance; or a series or combination of acts, omissions or

circumstances.

Parent able and willing

1

A parent who is not able:

May be willing to protect

the child but not have the

capacity to do so.

A parent who is not willing:

May have the capacity

to protect the child but

chooses not to.

2

Service System

Regional Intake

Service

NotificationChild Concern

Report

Service System Pathways

Intake Enquiry

Families

Investigation &

Assessment

Community Based

Intake and Referral

Service

Support Service

Intervention with

Parental

Agreement

Child Protection

Order

Out of home care In care

support

services

FIS

Child Protection Guide

Report to Dept of

Communities, Child

Safety & Disability

Services

Refer to Community

Based Intake and

Referral Service

Monitor child

wellbeing

Refer to a family

support service

Queensland

Police Service

Queensland

Health

Dept Education,

Training and

Employment

NGO/Sector/

Other

Community

Health

Early

Childhood

Centres

CentrelinkNeighbourhood

Centres

Domestic &

Family

Violence

Drug &

Alcohol

HousingEmployment

Services

Young

Parents

Disability

Services

Other

secondary

services

Sexual Assault/

Sexual Abuse

Counselling Services

Youth

Services

IFS

RAIATSIFSS

Fostering

Families

New or additional

investment

Tool to assist

professional reporters

Services above line are departmentally funded

intensive family support services

Interventions for Hazel

• Act for Kids IFS Family Support Worker conducts risk

assessment and Parental Evaluation of Developmental Status

(PEDS) with the family. Concerns for Hazel are identified as part

of Family Assessment.

• IFS refers Hazel to Integrated Therapy Team’s School

Readiness Group program, facilitated by the Act for Kids

Speech-Language Pathologist, Occupational Therapist and

Clinical Psychologist.

Interventions cont.

• Hazel made significant gains in several developmental domains

including functional communication skills, attention abilities and

social-emotional skills.

• Home based therapy program: therapists provided mother with

support and guidance in implementing a home based therapy

and behaviour management program. Weekly activities also

provided following the group program each week to practice

specific skills.

Interventions cont.

• Referral to Special Needs Toy Library: Family supported and

guided in accessing appropriate resources from Special Needs

Library to support the implementation of a home based therapy

program

• Consultation at Early Childhood Developmental Program setting

to consolidate goal setting across multiple environments and

ensure best therapeutic outcomes for Hazel

• SLP and OT assessments provided to better inform family and

school of Hazel’s current needs

Interventions cont.

• Act for Kids completed School consultation Term 1 at Education

Qld state school to support classroom teacher and recommend

strategies to facilitate Hazel’s learning in school environment

• Hazel received additional support through school, in small group

programs. The OT and SLP assessments provided valuable

information to assist the school to make appropriate curriculum

modifications for Hazel.

• Act for Kids Intensive Family Support provide ongoing family

support to assist the family to address hygiene and parenting

issues at home