What to expect?
What to Expect
What is a Child Safety Decision-Making Model?
Child Safety Decision Making Model
Why are there 4 different types of assessments?
What is an assessment?
What are the steps of an assessment?
How can you implement assessment outcomes?
Implementing assessment outcomes
How do you close, appeal and review responses?
Closing a response
Appealing a Response
Reviewing a Response
Do you work for an organisation?
What are governance issues?
Do we care about people?
Do we really care about people?
Do we care about you?
Do we really care about you?
What are the principles behind response strategies?
Principles behind the Response Process
Do you want to keep learning?
Further education options

Child Safety Assessment: Plan & Gather Information

Plan

What information do you need? You need to gather information about the Safety Concern and about the family /caregivers (such as dorm parents or teachers).

Safety Concern

  • What is the concern?  What is the concern for the safety or well-being of the child(ren)?
  • Did the child suffer an injury?  Or at risk of suffering an injury or harm?
  • Any pattern to the safety and well-being concern?

Family

  • Parents/ Care givers. When assessing the safety and wellbeing needs of a child, it is essential to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the family and care givers, the challenges that they face and the resources that they have to face these challenges. 
    • Belief of the concern. Do the parents/ caregivers believe and understand the concern of the child?
    • Do the parents/ caregivers have ability to prioritize the child’s needs?  Are there any issues to prevent the parents from prioritizing the child’s needs?

Child(ren)

What are the needs of this specific children and are these needs being met.

  • Psychological
  • Social
  • Physical
  • Supervision
  • Emotional
  • Educational

Who to gather the information?

This can be your designed Child Safety Advocate, or anyone in your organization who understands and is committed to the purpose of seeking support for a child(ren) and/or caregivers, rather than someone who is seeking a person to punish. Look for someone who is able to engage with children and their families, during time of trauma.

How to gather?

Arrange discussions with parents and/or caregivers.

You may also need to have a discussion with the child or young person. 

The PEACE interview model is a good resource to assist you to plan and prepare for any discussions that they may have to gather information.

Professional assessments

Consider if you require a professional assessment to understand the needs of a child.  This could include such assessment as:

  • professional educational assessment
  • psychological assessment
  • adolescent sexual behaviour psychological assessment