ChildStory

We believe that every child deserves to be safe and have a permanent and stable home for life.

To deliver on this promise we need an information system that is responsive to the complexity of the work of child protection, that can support decision making by recording and recalling the right information at the right time and supports collaboration between the people that matter in a child’s life.

To respond to this challenge the NSW Government has commissioned the ChildStory project within the Department of Family Community Services.

Operating within the broader framework of the Safe Home for Life reform, ChildStory represents a once in a generation opportunity to create an information technology system that places the child at the centre of their story and builds around them a network of family, carers, caseworkers and service providers that work collaboratively, with each other and the child, to keep them safe - an opportunity to tell a child’s story.

To achieve this change we’re going to replace a number of existing IT systems with one integrated platform that is easy to use and supports our people to do more of what we know works.

We’re going to build into our system opportunities for everyone involved in a child’s care to make their own valuable contribution. And, along the way we’re going to take advantage of opportunities, provided to us by better technology, to improve practice and processes.

What this means is that children and families will have more information and involvement in what is happening to them, caseworkers will have access to better tools so they can spend more time working with children and families and less time in the office and service provider organisations will be able to work more closely with the Department sharing information and coordinating care so every child gets the attention they deserve.