Children's Protection Act 1993

Division 4 - Matters to be included in annual report of Department

8E - Matters to be included in annual report of Department

(1) The annual report of the Department must include the following information in respect of the period covered by the annual report:

(a) information setting out -

• (i) the number of applications made under sections 20(1) and 22; and
• (ii) the number and general nature of any orders made under the Act in relation to those applications;

(b) information setting out the number and general nature of any orders made under section 21(1)(ab);

(c) information setting out -

• (i) the number of applications made under section 37(1) or (1a); and
• (ii) the number and general nature of any orders made under the Act in relation to those applications.

(2) This section is in addition to, and does not derogate from, any other requirement under this Act or the Public Sector Act 2009.

Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017 - Part 4: Additional reporting obligations of the Chief Executive

156 – Additional annual reporting obligations

1. The Chief Executive must, not later than 30 September in each year, submit to the Minister a report setting out—

a) the following information in respect of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people:

• (i) the extent to which case planning in relation to such children and young people includes the development of cultural maintenance plans with input from local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations;
• (ii) the extent to which agreements made in case planning relating to supporting the cultural needs of such children and young people are being met (being support such as transport to cultural events, respect for religious laws, attendance at funerals, providing appropriate food and access to religious celebrations);
• (iii) the extent to which such children and young people have access to a case worker, community, relative or other person from the same Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community as the child or young person; and

b) the following information relating to case workers and children and young people in care:

• (i) whether a case worker has been allocated to each child and young person in care;
• (ii) whether each child and young person in care has had face to face contact with their allocated case worker at least once in each month, and, if not, the extent to which those targets have been achieved; and

c) whether each child or young person under the guardianship of the Chief Executive until they are 18 years of age has a case plan that is developed, monitored and reviewed as part of a regular 6 monthly planning cycle and, if not, the extent to which that target has been achieved; and

d) the emergence of any recurring themes in the matters referred to in a preceding paragraph; and

e) the following information relating to recommendations of the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission (being information relating to the preceding financial year):

• (i) the extent to which any outstanding recommendations have been implemented;
• (ii) if a decision was made to implement a particular recommendation that the government, or the Minister or Chief Executive, had previously indicated would not be implemented—the reasons for that decision and the manner in which the recommendation is to be implemented;
• (iii) if a decision was made not to implement a particular recommendation that the government, or the Minister or Chief Executive, had previously indicated would be implemented—the reasons for that decision; and

f) the number, and general nature, of placements of children and young people under section 77; and

g) any other matter prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph

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The Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017 (the Act) replaces the Children's Protection Act 1993 and ensures that keeping children and young people safe from harm is paramount.

The new Act will be implemented in two phases. The first phase commenced on 26 February 2018 and the remaining sections of the Act will commence on 22 October 2018.

The DCP have received advice that we are unable to report on section 156(1)(a)(i, ii, iii), (c), (d), and (f) as they all relate to reporting on provisions of the Act that will commence on October 22, therefore are unable to report from February to 30 June 2018.

DCP have reported on section 156(1)(e) in the form of the A Fresh Start Annual Report which was released and tabled in Parliament in June 2018.

DCP is currently unable to report on section 156(1)(b)(ii) as the data is not able to be captured. Changes to DCP reports and data capture is being explored and implemented in line with the full commencement of the Act.

At this stage DCP are only able to report on s156(1)(b) of the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017:

At 30 June 2018 there were 3695 children aged 0-17 years in out of home care. Of these, DCP had case management responsibility for 3540 of these children as 155 were on an Other Person Guardianship order.

All of these children had a Primary Assigned Case Worker recorded at 30 June 2018.

Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017 - Part 5: Additional functions of the Minister

15 – Additional annual reporting obligations

1. The Minister must, not later than 30 September in each year, prepare a report—

a) detailing the role of the Minister, and the extent to which the Minister has performed the Minister's functions, in respect of the operation of this Act for the financial year ending on the preceding 30 June; and

b) setting out the following information relating to the provision of family support services and intensive family support services to children and young people who are at risk and their families:

• (i) the extent to which such services were provided by, or on behalf of, the State (including statistical data relating to the number of times such services were provided) during the financial year ending on the preceding 30 June;
• (ii) the amount of resources allocated for the provision of such services by or on behalf of the State—
  • (A) during the financial year ending on the preceding 30 June; and
  • during the current financial year;
• (iii) the extent to which the allocated resources were, in fact, spent on the provision of such services during the financial year ending on the preceding 30 June
• (iv) bench-marking the resources referred to in subparagraph (ii) and (iii) against those allocated and spent by other States and Territories in the provision of such services during the financial year ending on the preceding 30 June; and

c) providing any other information required by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.

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The Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017 (the Act) replaces the Children's Protection Act 1993 and ensures that keeping children and young people safe from harm is paramount.

The new Act was implemented in two phases. The first phase commenced on 26 February 2018 and the remaining sections of the Act commenced on 22 October 2018.

The DCP is unable to report on section 15(1)(a) as it relates to functions of the Minister under provisions of the Act which commenced on 22 October 2018, and are therefore unable to report from February to 30 June 2018.

The DCP is unable to report on section 15(1)(b)(i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) as the data and information is not able to be captured. Changes to data capture is being explored and implemented in line with the full commencement of the Act.