REPORTING OF CHILD ABUSE

AUSTRALIA

Resource Sheet No.3

Updated February 2009

Mandatory reporting of child abuse

This resource sheet examines legal provisions requiring specified people to report supsected child maltreatment to statutory child protection services in Australia.

What is mandatory reporting?

The legal requirement to report suspected cases of child abuse and neglect is known as mandatory reporting. All jurisdictions possess mandatory reporting requirements of some description. However, the people mandated to report and the abuse types for which it is mandatory to report vary across Australian states and territories.

Who is mandated to make a notification?

The groups of people mandated to notify their concerns, suspicions or beliefs to the appropriate statutory child protection authority range from a limited number of specified persons in specified contexts (Western Australia, Queensland) through to every adult (Northern Territory).

The relevant Acts and Regulations in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia contain lists of particular occupations that are mandated to report. Some states have a limited number of occupations listed, such as Queensland (doctors, departmental officers, and employees of licensed residential care services) and Victoria (police, doctors, nurses and teachers).

Other jurisdictions have more extensive lists (Australian Capital Territory, South Australia, Tasmania) or use generic descriptions such as "professionals working with children". Many commentators have suggested that Western Australia is the only Australian jurisdiction without mandatory reporting requirements. However, Western Australia does possess targeted legislative requirements for the reporting of child abuse.

Court personnel, counsellors and mediators are required to report allegations or suspicions of child abuse in Family Court cases, and licensed providers of child care or outside-school-hours care services are required to report abuse in a child care service. The proclamation of the Children and Community Services Amendment (Reporting Sexual Abuse of Children) Act 2008 (WA) will extend mandatory reporting requirements in Western Australia to doctors, nurses, midwives, police officers and teachers in circumstances where they have reasonable grounds to believe that a child has been the subject of sexual abuse or is the subject of ongoing sexual abuse.

Table 1 provides an overview of who is legally mandated to report suspected child maltreatm

t to statutory child protection services in each state and territory. Table 1: Mandatory

reporting requirements across Australia

Notes: * Section 67ZA of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) applies to all states and territories. In addition to state and territory law, there are provisions within Commonwealth legislation that relate to mandatory reporting. Under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), personnel from the Family Court of Australia, the Federal Magistrates Court and the Family Court of Western Australia also have mandatory reporting obligations. This includes registrars, family counsellors, family dispute resolution practitioners or arbitrators, and lawyers independently representing children's interests.

Section 67ZA states that when in the course of performing duties or functions, or exercising powers, the above court personnel have reasonable grounds for suspecting that a child has been abused, or is at risk of being abused, the person must, as soon as practicable, notify a prescribed child welfare authority of his or her suspicion and the basis for the suspicion (see www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/fla1975114/s67za.html).

What types of abuse are mandated reporters required to report?

In addition to differences across jurisdictions in the people who are mandated to report abuse concerns, there are also differences across jurisdictions in the abuse types for which it is mandatory to report. In some jurisdictions it is mandatory to report suspicions of each of the recognised abuse types (i.e., physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect), while in other jurisdictions it is mandatory to report only some of the abuse types.

Is the identity of notifiers protected?

In most jurisdictions (Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania), the identity of notifiers - whether mandated or not - is explicitly protected (the issue is unclear in the Queensland legislation). However, in some jurisdictions there are limits to this protection. For example, in the Northern Territory, the identity of reporters is not disclosed to families, but may be disclosed to the Family Matters Court upon request.

Legislation in all jurisdictions except New South Wales requires mandatory reporting in relation to all young people up to the age of 18 (whether they use the terms "children" or "children and young people"). In New South Wales, the legislative grounds for intervention cover young people up to 18 years of age, but it is not mandatory to report suspicions of risk of harm in relation to young people aged 16 and 17. Although particular professional groups (such as psychologists) or government agencies (such as education departments in some states) may have protocols outlining the moral, ethical or professional responsibility or indeed the organisational requirement to report, they may not be officially mandated under their jurisdiction's child protection legislation. For example, in Queensland, school principals and teachers are required to report suspected abuse and neglect as per Education Queensland policy, but teachers and principals are not mandated to report under the relevant legislation. Further, in some jurisdictions, agreements between authorities can establish reporting requirements. For example, in Western Australia, there is an agreement between the Department of Health, the Department for Community Development and the Western Australia Police that requires the reporting of all children under 14 years of age with sexually transmitted infections (STI) and the reporting of children 14 and 15 years of age with a STI acquired through abuse.

Mandatory reporting laws specify those conditions under which an individual is legally required to make a report to the statutory child protection service in their jurisdiction. This does not preclude an individual from making a report to the statutory child protection service if they have concerns for the safety and wellbeing of a child that do not fall within mandatory reporting requirements. A common assumption is that mandatory reporting requirements, the legislative grounds for 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 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.

Mandatory reporting is considered to be a symbolic acknowledgement of the seriousness of child abuse. Mandatory reporting requirements reinforce the moral responsibility of community members to report suspected cases of child abuse and neglect. The introduction of mandatory reporting aims to overcome the reluctance of some professionals to become involved in suspected cases of child abuse by imposing a public duty to do so. Mandatory reporting, and the publicity associated with its introduction, has been found to increase public awareness of child abuse, both within mandated professional groups and within the community at large.

As the introduction of mandatory reporting requirements within a jurisdiction tends to increase the community's awareness of child abuse, in many instances it also results in a substantial increase in the number of reports being made to child protection departments. If there are inadequate resources available to the responsible department to respond to the increased demand, then the increasing number of reports may result in services being overwhelmed with cases to investigate, and lacking sufficient staffing to do so. In order to cope with this influx of reports, some child protection departments have increased the threshold or level of seriousness of reports that give rise to an investigation; cases considered to be less serious may not be investigated at all. When mandated people report suspected cases of child abuse or neglect, they expect the child protection department to investigate and take action regarding their report. If this does not occur, there is a risk that such people may cease to make reports in the future. Further details and information about mandatory reporting can be obtained from the relevant statutory child protection authority in each jurisdiction (see Table 2). Table 2: Statutory child protection authorities

Jurisdiction Responsible authority Website

ACT	Office for Children, Youth and Family Support - Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services	www.dhcs.act.gov.au/ocyfs
NSW	Department of Community Services	www.community.nsw.gov.au
NT	Children, Youth and Families - Department of Health and Families	www.health.nt.gov.au/Children_Youth_and_Families
QLD	Department of Child Safety	www.childsafety.qld.gov.au
SA	Families SA - Department of Families and Communities	www.dfc.sa.gov.au/pub/Default.aspx?tabid=257
Tas.	Child Protection - Department of Health and Human Services	www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/health__and__wellbeing/ children_and_families/related_topics/child_protection
Vic.	Child Protection and Family Services - Department of Human Services	www.cyf.vic.gov.au/child-protection-family-services
WA	Department for Child Protection	www.community.wa.gov.au/DCP

Ainsworth, F. (2002). Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect: Why would you want it? Developing Practice: The Child, Youth and Family Work Journal, 4, 5-8.

Cashmore, J. (2002). Mandatory reporting: Is it the culprit? Where is the evidence? Developing Practice: The Child, Youth and Family Work Journal, 4, 9-12.

Harries, M., & Clare, M. (2002). Mandatory reporting of child abuse: Evidence and options. Report for the Western Australian Child Protection Council. Perth: Department for Community Development. Retrieved 15 January 2009, from http://www.childprotectioncouncil.com.au/documents//issues/1/Mandatory%20Reporting.pdf

Holland, G. (1999). Mandatory reporting of abuse: The influence of legislation on doctors' reporting behaviour. Youth Studies Australia, 18(2), 30-36.

Quinton, P. (1991). Mandatory reporting. Canberra: ACT Community Law Reform Committee.

Tomison, A. (2002). Mandatory reporting: A question of theory versus practice. Developing Practice: The Child, Youth and Family Work Journal, 4, 13-17.

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