A number of resources have been developed to ensure mandatory reporters understand their role and meet their obligations, including mandatory reporting modules for school and early childhood staff.
A community education package has also been developed to promote child wellbeing and safety, and to assist organisations in relation to making reports to Child Protection. In , approved education and care services e.
Other organisations such as schools, out-of-home care service providers, and religious bodies are already included in the Scheme. Skip to main content. Improving institutional responding and reporting. On this page:. Reporting child abuse Institutional reporting and complaint handling. Table 1 - Victorian mandatory reporters Pre-March Police officers Registered medical practitioners Nurses, including midwives Registered teachers School principals From March Out-of-home care workers Youth justice workers Early childhood workers Registered psychologists Early School counsellors People in religious ministry.
Making institutions child safe. Recordkeeping and information sharing. This resource sheet provides members of the community with information on mandatory reporting laws, which require specified people to report suspected abuse and neglect to government child protection services in Australia.
Mandatory reporting laws aim to identify cases of child abuse and neglect, and to assist the individual children in these cases Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, [Royal Commission], They were first developed in response to the largely hidden nature of child physical abuse and neglect, with the purpose of bringing cases to the attention of child welfare agencies Mathews, a.
They require selected groups of people to report suspected cases of child abuse and neglect to government authorities. In Australia, the first laws were introduced in South Australia in , and these laws have since been introduced in all Australian jurisdictions Mathews, b. However, the laws are not the same across all jurisdictions. Differences exist in who has to report, what types of abuse and neglect have to be reported, the 'state of mind' that activates the reporting duty i.
These differences are described and discussed in this resource sheet. Mandatory reporting legislation generally contains lists of particular occupations that are mandated to report cases of suspected child abuse and neglect. The groups of people mandated to report range from persons in a limited number of occupations Qld to a more extensive list Vic.
The occupations most commonly named as mandated reporters are those who deal frequently with children in the course of their work: teachers, early childhood education and care practitioners, doctors, nurses and police. Differences exist in the types of abuse and neglect that must be reported.
In some jurisdictions e. NSW and NT it is mandatory to report suspicions of all five recognised types of abuse and neglect i. In other jurisdictions it is mandatory to report only some of the abuse types e. WA, Qld, Vic. In most jurisdictions the legislation generally specifies that, except for sexual abuse, it is only cases of significant abuse and neglect that must be reported. As sexual abuse should always create a suspicion of significant harm, in practical terms all suspicions of sexual abuse must be reported.
While not required by the legislation, suspicions of less severe child abuse and neglect may still be referred to child and family welfare agencies. It is important to note that the duty to report applies to suspicions that significant abuse or neglect is likely in the future, not just suspected cases of significant abuse or neglect that have already happened.
In all jurisdictions, the legislation protects the mandatory reporter's identity from disclosure. In addition, the legislation provides that as long as the report is made in good faith, the reporter cannot be liable in any civil, criminal or administrative proceedings. Legislation in all jurisdictions except New South Wales and Victoria requires mandatory reporting in relation to all young people up to the age of 18 years. In New South Wales, the duty only applies to situations involving children aged under 16 years.
In Victoria, the duty only applies to situations involving children under 17 years of age. This form of mandatory reporting is one of several different legal domains that require designated people to report specified types of child abuse. The reporting duties discussed here are located in child protection legislation in each jurisdiction.
They are the major form of reporting duty - being primarily directed towards situations of multiple types of abuse and neglect by parents and caregivers although, operationally, situations of non-familial sexual abuse will be subsumed under the reporting duty.
Accordingly, other types of reporting laws co-exist with the child protection reporting laws. These other laws appear most prominently in criminal laws and most often require reports of child sexual abuse, although they sometimes extend to serious physical abuse. These criminal law reporting duties do not exist in every jurisdiction, and where they do exist e. The criminal law reporting duties require all adults in the jurisdiction to report the specified type of abuse.
Other types of reporting duty are aimed at identifying institutional sexual abuse. All these different duties are discussed in recent research Mathews, A common assumption is that mandatory reporting requirements, the legislative grounds for child protection services intervention, and research classifications of abusive and neglectful behaviour are the same.
In fact, mandatory reporting laws define the types of situations that must be reported to statutory child protection services. Legislative grounds for government intervention define the circumstances and, importantly, the threshold at which the statutory child protection service is legally able to intervene to protect a child. Researchers typically focus on defining behaviours and circumstances that can be categorised as abuse and neglect. These differences arise because each description serves a different purpose; the lack of commonality does not mean that the system is failing to work as policy makers had intended.
As such, not all reports of child abuse and neglect lead to immediate action from child protection services. A single report may not meet the threshold for intervention; however, this report grouped with other information on file or that is yet to be collected may meet the threshold and result in action being taken.
Reports are not looked at in isolation, instead they work to form a body of information that determine if and how child protection services are legally able to intervene. Any person is lawfully entitled to make a report if they are concerned for a child's welfare, even if they are not required to do so as a mandatory reporter. Anyone making a voluntary non-mandated report is also protected with regard to confidentiality and immunity from legal liability as outlined above.
In addition to the mandatory reporting legislation, certain professional groups such as psychologists and government agencies such as education departments may have their own occupational reporting protocols outlining the moral, ethical, professional or organisational responsibility to report.
These policy-based reporting duties may be narrower, broader or the same as those officially mandated under legislation. For example, in Queensland, teachers are required to report all forms of suspected significant abuse and neglect under school policy but are only mandated to report sexual abuse and physical abuse under the legislation. There need to be adequate resources available to respond to any increased demand for staffing and services.
It is important that mandated reporters receive multidisciplinary training and accurate information to ensure that they know what cases they have to report, how to make a report containing the details needed by the child welfare agency intake team, and what cases they should not report.
This training should occur pre-service and in-service. Since non-mandated reporters make a large proportion of all reports, it is also important for the public to be made aware of the appropriate extent of their responsibility. It is also essential that child and family support services be adequately resourced to respond to children and families in need of protection and assistance. As a public policy, mandatory reporting aims to protect children from child abuse and neglect.
Mathews and Bross argue that a society without a mandatory reporting system will be far less able to protect children and assist families, as many cases of child abuse and neglect will remain hidden. Comparative studies between countries with and without a mandatory reporting system have found that substantially more cases of child sexual abuse are identified in countries with a mandatory reporting system Royal Commission, Mandatory reporting also aims to increase the awareness of child abuse and neglect in professionals who work with children and overcome any reluctance to report this abuse Cashmore, This includes registrars, deputy registrars, family consultants, family counsellors, family dispute resolution practitioners, arbitrators, and lawyers independently representing children's interests.
Section 67ZA 1 and 2 require that when these persons have reasonable grounds for suspecting that a child has been abused, or is at risk of being abused, and this suspicion is developed in the course of performing their duties or functions, or exercising powers, they must, as soon as practicable, notify a prescribed child welfare authority of their suspicion and its basis.
Under section 4, 'abuse' is effectively defined as including: a assault, including a sexual assault; b sexual abuse; c serious psychological harm, including but not limited to harm caused by the child being subjected to, or exposed to, family violence; or d serious neglect. Further details and information about mandatory reporting can be obtained from the relevant statutory child protection authority in each jurisdiction.
Contact and other details for each state and territory office can be found in the CFCA Resource sheet: Reporting child abuse and neglect: Information for service providers.
The Australian Capital Territory's mandatory reporting laws cover an extensive list of professions, and the details of the reporting requirements are provided in the table below. New South Wales' mandatory reporting laws cover an extensive list of professions, and the details of the reporting requirements are provided in the table below. A person who holds a management position in an organisation, the duties of which include direct responsibility for, or direct supervision of, the provision of health care, welfare, education, children's services, residential services or law enforcement, wholly or partly, to children.
The Northern Territory's mandatory reporting laws apply to any person, with additional provisions covering health practitioners. The details of these reporting requirements are provided in the table below. Queensland has three separate pieces of mandatory reporting legislation, each covering different occupational groups and having their own reporting requirements. The details of these pieces of legislation are provided in the table below.
South Australia's mandatory reporting laws cover an extensive list of professions, and the details of the reporting requirements are provided in the table below. Tasmania's mandatory reporting laws cover an extensive list of professions, and the details of the reporting requirements are provided in the table below. Note on extent of harm required to activate the duty section 3 1 definition of 'abuse and neglect': for all forms except sexual abuse, reports must be made where: i the injured, abused or neglected person has suffered, or is likely to suffer, physical or psychological harm detrimental to the person's wellbeing; or ii the injured, abused or neglected person's physical or psychological development is in jeopardy.
All instances of suspected sexual abuse must be reported. Victoria's mandatory reporting laws cover an extensive list of professions, and the details of the reporting requirements are provided in the table below. Note that technically, under s. Western Australia has two separate pieces of mandatory reporting legislation, each covering different occupation groups and having their own reporting requirements.
Kohl, P. Time to leave substantiation behind: Findings from a national probability study. Child Maltreatment, 14 1 , Mathews, B. Exploring the contested role of mandatory reporting laws in the identification of severe child abuse and neglect. Freeman Ed.
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