COMMUNITY SERVICES – Our role, responsibilities

and processes

CENTRAL COAST STRUCTURE

• There are 4 CSC’s on the Central Coast:• Peninsula CSC• Gosford CSC• Wyong CSC• Lakes CSC

• All CSC’s have:• 1 Triage Assessment Team• 2 Child Protection Teams• 1 Out of Home Care Team• 1 Strengthening Families Team

• There are District JIRT, ISS, Adolescent & C&FRU teams.

KEEP THEM SAFE : WHAT DID IT MEAN TO CS?

• Community Services is part of the Department of Family and Community Services.

• Family and Community Services is comprised of:– Community Services– ADHC– Housing– Aboriginal Housing Office– Women NSW

KEEP THEM SAFE : WHAT DID IT MEAN TO CS?

• Threshold changed to ‘Risk Of Significant Harm’ (ROSH)

• This resulted in a decrease in the number of reports received at a CSC.

• This has not altered the fact that Community Services will need to unallocate/close matters.

KEEP THEM SAFE : WHAT DID IT MEAN TO CS?

• Introduction of Structured Decision Making (SDM)

• SDM is used at the Helpline to determine if a report meets the Risk of Significant Harm (ROSH) threshold.

KEEP THEM SAFE : WHAT DID IT MEAN TO CS?

• Information Sharing Laws changed to enable better communication between all agencies.

• S16A was proclaimed – this allows agencies to share information about the safety, welfare & wellbeing of a child WITHOUT CS involvement.

KTS – WHAT DOES IT MEAN

• Agencies/NGOs are responsible for assisting families that do not meet the ROSH threshold.

• Agencies have Child Wellbeing Units to assist in determining if a family should be reported to the Helpline

• Family Referral Services exist for non-Government Services

TRIAGE ASSESSMENT

• Number of reports have decreased by approx. 40% since 26 Jan 2010

• Number of reports responded to has not changed – high risk matters remain unallocated

• Central Coast received 1720 reports July-Sept 2013

• Police, DEC and Health largest reporters

TRIAGE ASSESSMENT

• Severity of reported risk/harm

• Co-existing factors

• Vulnerability of the child/young person

• CS history, criminal history, health history

• Involvement of other services and their ability to decrease risk

TRIAGE ASSESSMENT

• Factors present for a Field Response:– Extreme/High Risk– Multiple co-existing child protection

factors– No protective adult for the child– CS/Police history– Little/no contact with other services

• Teams respond to crisis reports – a daily roster exists for these matters.

CHILD PROTECTION STATISTICS

• The Central Coast is currently managing 74 Children’s Court matters, 3 District Court matters, 1 Supreme Court and 6 Family Law Court matters.

• Children’s Court matters take an average of 9 months to complete.

• Parent’s can appeal a Children’s Court order via a S90 application to the court / via District Court / via Supreme Court.

TRANSFER OF OOHC TO NGOs

OOHC REFORM

OUT OF HOME CARE

• Provides case management to children and young people in the long term parental responsibility of the Minister.

• There children can be placed in:– Kinship/Relative care– CS Foster Care– Agency Foster Care– Residential Settings– Independent Living– Self placed young

people/homeless/refuges

DESIGNATED OOHC AGENCIES

• Statutory care placements can be case managed by CS OOHC CWs or designated agencies who have case management.

• A designated agency is an NGO service provider who has met the Children’s Guardian guidelines for accreditation.

OUT OF HOME CARE STATISTICS

• The Central Coast has 1868 And young people in statutory OOHC.

• The Central Coast has establishment of 23 OOHC Caseworkers.