If the Department want to talk to you about your children, it means they have received a report that your children may be at risk of harm.
The Department:
• may send a caseworker to your house to talk to you or they may ask you to go to their office
• may get a caseworker to talk to your children at school. They don’t need your permission to speak with your children
• can also get information about your family from your doctor, hospital, police, teachers or family members – they don’t need your permission to do this.
The Department won’t automatically remove your children from your care just because there’s domestic and family violence. Children are only usually removed as a last option.
After the Department investigates a report, they may decide everything is okay. Sometimes they may want to work with your family so your children stay in your care while steps are taken to improve their safety.
It’s important to try to work with the Department, even if you don’t agree with the reasons they are getting involved with your family. See tips for working with the Department.
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Below are some things the Department may ask you to do, depending on your situation.
Every family is different. What the Department may ask you to do will depend on your case.
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• Stay away from the other person, and to keep the children away from them. This could mean living separately or separating if you were in a relationship. It’s important to put your children’s safety first.
• Get a Domestic Violence Order or to help police when they apply for a Domestic Violence Order. You can get legal adviceACTNSWNTQldSATasVicWA this.
• Get Parenting Orders to limit the other person’s involvement with the children. Sometimes, parenting orders can help but sometimes it might not be a good option for you. It’s important to get legal adviceACTNSWNTQldSATasVicWA about your situation. Also see when is family law an option?
• Work with a support service or do a parenting program. The Department can’t force you to do this, but these services can help make things better for you and your children.
• Participate in meetings, conferences or assessments. These are different in each State and Territory, so you should get legal adviceACTNSWNTQldSATasVicWA about what is involved.
• Make a written agreement with the Department about your children. An agreement is different to Care Orders, which are made by a court.
If the Department want to enter into an agreement with you, you should get legal adviceACTNSWNTQldSATasVicWA. It is important to understand what your agreement means and to make sure you can do everything you have agreed to do. If you don’t want to or can’t follow an agreement, you should get legal adviceACTNSWNTQldSATasVicWA.
If you have experienced domestic and family violence, it’s important to work with the Department to keep you and your children safe.
You can get help and read about protecting children from domestic and family violence.
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• Do a Men’s Behaviour Change ProgramACTNSWNTQldSATasVicWA or counselling.
• Work with a support service or do a parenting program. The Department can’t force you to do this, but these services can help make things better for you and your children.
• Participate in meetings, conferences or assessments. These are different in each State and Territory, so you should get legal adviceACTNSWNTQldSATasVicWA about what is involved.
• Stay away from the other person, and from your children. The Department may also ask the person who has experienced domestic and family violence to stay away from you, and to keep your children away. This could mean living separately or separating if you were in a relationship. It’s important to put your children’s safety first.
• Make a written agreement with the Department about your children. An agreement is different to Care Orders, which are made by a court.
If the Department want to enter into an agreement with you, you should get legal adviceACTNSWNTQldSATasVicWA. It is important to understand what your agreement means and to make sure you can do everything you have agreed to do. If you don’t want to or can’t follow an agreement, you should get legal adviceACTNSWNTQldSATasVicWA.
The Department may also ask the person who has experienced domestic and family violence to get a Domestic Violence Order or Parenting Orders to limit your children’s involvement with you and the risk of them being exposed to violence.
This may mean that your children are able to stay in the other parent’s care even if you are not able to live with them. You can get legal adviceACTNSWNTQldSATasVicWA about this.
If you have used violence, it can be hard to face up to how your behaviour affects your family. It takes strength to admit you need help. If you are serious about being involved in your children’s lives, you should work with the Department, get legal adviceACTNSWNTQldSATasVicWA and get help.
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- Community Services – Child Concern Reports: What are they are what does it mean if someone makes a report about my child?
- Community Services – Why Child Protection take court action
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- Children’s Court – Temporary Care Arrangements
- Family and Community Services – Orders in care and protection matters
- Family and Community Services – What to expect when a caseworker visits
- Legal Aid NSW – Community Services want to talk about my kids: what will happen? – available in English, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Dari/Farsi, Dinka, Kirundi, Swahili, Tamil, Thai and Vietnamese
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- NT Law Handbook – Child Welfare
- NT Legal Aid Commission – Child protection matters
- Territory Families – Children and families
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- Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women – Protecting children
- Legal Aid Qld – Child Protection Legal Information
- Queensland Law Handbook – Investigation and assessment of Reported Child Abuse or Neglect
- Queensland Law Handbook – Out-of-home Care for a Child During an Investigation
- Queensland Law Handbook – Gaining Contact with a Child in Need of Protection
- South West Brisbane CLC – Information Kit on Child Protection for Parents
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- SA Law Handbook – Investigation and Intervention
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- Department of Communities Tasmania – Visit from Child Protection
- Department of Communities Tasmania – Child Protection Process
- Department of Communities Tasmania – Child Safety Information Sheets and Resources
- Tasmanian Law Handbook – Options other than Care and Protection Orders
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- Child Protection Manual – When Child Protection Workers Visit – available in Arabic, Mandarin, Turkish, Vietnamese, Burmese, Cantonese, Dari and Dinka
- Victoria Legal Aid – Being Investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services
- Victoria Legal Aid – Family Violence Orders to Protect Children
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- Department for Child Protection – If we contact you about your child
- Department for Child Protection – What Does it Mean?
- Legal Aid WA – Child Protection Investigation
- The Family Inclusion Network of WA – Finding your way with the Department
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