Metadata for DCJ quarterly statistical report on services for children and young people
Quarterly report – the latest is June 2021. Each report shows data going back to the same quarter, last year.
Responding to child and young person concern reports
- Concern reports - Child and young person concern reports received from reporter agencies and how these reports were classified
- Concern reports – What were the primary Helpline reported issues reported from mandatory reporter agencies?
- Concern reports – How many children and young people were involved in child and young person concern reports?
- ROSH reports – Assessment of child and young person concern reports to determine if they meet the statutory threshold of risk of significant harm (ROSH)
- ROSH reports – Determining a response time for ROSH reports from mandatory and non-mandatory reporters
- ROSH reports – How many children and young people were involved in ROSH reports?
- Contacts - Child and young person contacts by mandatory reporters to the DCJ Child Protection Helpline
- Assessment response – Assessment response for children and young people involved in ROSH reports
Measure – Concern reports - Child and young person concern reports received from reporter agencies and how these reports were classified
Description
This refers to the total number of child and young person concern reports received in the quarter. It also counts the number of child and young person concern reports classified under the response category of ROSH, Forward for info/action or No response required.
A child and young person concern report relates to the initial contact made at the Child Protection Helpline from mandatory or non-mandatory reporters who have reasonable grounds to suspect a child or young person is at risk of significant harm (ROSH) and has current concerns about the safety, welfare or wellbeing of the child/young person. Child and young person concern reports are then assessed to determine whether the threshold of significant harm is reached.
A child/young person may be subjected to multiple reports.
The child and young person concern report is classified according to whether the report meets the ROSH threshold or is assessed as requiring no further response at that point in time or alternatively can be forwarded for information or other action. Reports that do not meet the ROSH threshold are assessed as requiring no response at that point in time.
Publisher
NSW Department of Communities and Justice
Numerator
Not applicable
Denominator
Not applicable
Data Filters
- Reporter agency
- Reporter type
- Helpline assessment outcome
Data Limitations
Nil
Data Source
KiDS – Client Information Warehouse (CIW) for data before 2017-18.
ChildStory/MDS - Corporate Information Warehouse (CIW) for data after 2017-18.
Measure – Concern reports – What were the primary Helpline reported issues reported from mandatory reporter agencies?
Description
This refers to the total number of children and young person concern reports from mandatory reporters in the quarter.
Mandatory reporters are required under section 27 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 to make a report to DCJ if they suspect that a child is at risk of harm (as detailed in section 23 of the Act).
When a report is made about concerns that a child is at risk of significant harm, the Child Protection Helpline caseworkers record the primary and up to two other issues associated with risk of significant harm.
TAFE NSW was part of NSW Education until the end of 2014-15. From 2016, TAFE NSW is grouped under "other mandatory reporter" category.
Publisher
NSW Department of Communities and Justice
Numerator
Not applicable
Denominator
Not applicable
Data Filters
- Reporter agency
- Reporter type
- Primary Helpline assessed issue
Data Limitations
Nil
Data Source
KiDS – Client Information Warehouse (CIW) for data before 2017-18.
ChildStory/MDS - Corporate Information Warehouse (CIW) for data after 2017-18.
Measure - ROSH reports – Assessment of child and young person concern reports to determine if they meet the statutory threshold of risk of significant harm (ROSH)
Description
This refers to the total number of concern reports meeting the statutory threshold of risk of significant harm (ROSH) during the quarter.
In assessing a child/young person concern report to determine if it meets the statutory threshold of risk of significant harm, caseworkers in Child Protection Helpline apply the Structured Decision Making (SDM) Screening and Response Priority (SCRPT) tools to reports to determine the level of response category.
A primary reported issue about a concern report is recorded as well as two other secondary issues.
Publisher
NSW Department of Communities and Justice
Numerator
Not applicable
Denominator
Not applicable
Data Filters
- Primary Helpline assessed issue
Data Limitations
Nil
Data Source
KiDS - Corporate Information Warehouse (CIW) for data before 2017-18.
ChildStory/MDS - Corporate Information Warehouse (CIW) for data after 2017-18.
Measure – ROSH reports – Determining a response time for ROSH reports from mandatory and non-mandatory reporters
Description
This refers to the total number of ROSH reports received and screened to be responded under the response time of Less than 24 hours, Less than 72 hours or Less than 10 days at the Child Protection Helpline during the quarter.
The response time relates to the Child Protection Helpline’s assessment of reports meeting the ROSH threshold to determine how quickly an investigation should be initiated by child protection caseworkers.
TAFE NSW was part of NSW Education until the end of 2014-15. From 2016, TAFE NSW is grouped under "other mandatory reporter" category.
Publisher
NSW Department of Communities and Justice
Numerator
Not applicable
Denominator
Not applicable
Data Filters
- Reporter agency
- Reporter type
- Response priority
Data Limitations
Nil
Data Source
KiDS - Corporate Information Warehouse (CIW) for data before 2017-18.
ChildStory/MDS - Corporate Information Warehouse (CIW) for data after 2017-18.
Measure – Concern reports – How many children and young people were involved in child and young person concern reports?
Description
This refers to the total number of unique children and young people involved in child and young person concern reports during the quarter.
The number of children and young people are unique for the quarter only.
Publisher
NSW Department of Communities and Justice
Numerator
Not applicable
Denominator
Not applicable
Data Filters
Nil
Data Limitations
Nil
Data Source
KiDS - Corporate Information Warehouse (CIW) for data before 2017-18.
ChildStory/MDS - Corporate Information Warehouse (CIW) for data after 2017-18.
Measure – ROSH reports – How many children and young people were involved in ROSH reports?
Description
This refers to the total number of unique children and young people involved in ROSH reports during the quarter.
The number of children and young people are unique for the quarter only.
Publisher
NSW Department of Communities and Justice
Numerator
Not applicable
Denominator
Not applicable
Data Filters
- Aboriginality
Data Limitations
Nil
Data Source
KiDS - Corporate Information Warehouse (CIW) for data before 2017-18.
ChildStory/MDS - Corporate Information Warehouse (CIW) for data after 2017-18.
Measure – Contacts - Child and young person concern contacts by mandatory reporters to the DCJ Child Protection Helpline
Description
This refers to the total number of child and young person concern contacts made by mandatory reporters to the DCJ Child Protection Helpline in the quarter.
A child or young person contact is based on unique contact recorded on DCJ client information system, where the primary contact reason was “reporting concern about a child or young person”.
A contact record is used to record information received by DCJ and may relate to one or more persons.
A contact record may record information provided in one or more calls/faxes/eReports. A single call/fax/eReport may result in multiple contact records.
TAFE NSW was part of NSW Education until the end of 2014-15. From 2016, TAFE NSW is grouped under "other mandatory reporter" category.
Reports that do not meet the ROSH threshold are assessed as requiring no response at that point in time. Due to the introduction of ChildStory, data for this breakdown after 2017-18 is not available.
As a child may be reported by more than one reporter type throughout the year, the categories presented are not mutually exclusive.
Publisher
NSW Department of Communities and Justice
Numerator
Not applicable
Denominator
Not applicable
Data Filters
- Reporter agency
- Reporter type
- Assessment outcome (Due to the introduction of ChildStory, data for this breakdown after 2017-18 is not available.)
Data Limitations
Nil
Data Source
KiDS - Corporate Information Warehouse (CIW) for data before 2017-18.
ChildStory/MDS - Corporate Information Warehouse (CIW) for data after 2017-18.
Measure – Assessment response – Assessment response for children and young people involved in ROSH reports.
Description
This refers to the total number of unique ROSH reported children and young people receiving a statuary child protection response during the quarter.
Children and young people are counted against the highest level of service or assessment received at any time during the quarter. Where Children and young people received more than one assessment they are counted against the highest assessment in the quarter.
The statutory child protection response for children and young people involved in ROSH reports can be Office-based assessments (SAS1) or Face-to-face assessments (SAS2/SARA). In some scenarios, Further assessment not required may be the response.
Due to the introduction of ChildStory, the ‘children seen’ service measure has been used to better capture caseworkers’ efforts to assist vulnerable children and young people and their families. There has been a change in the definition of ‘children at ROSH seen by DCJ’, with more stringent requirements introduced by ChildStory in 2017-18. There are more steps undertaken by caseworkers to record the work they do to meet the definition of “seen”, in particular that a manager must now give formal approval. Previously, NSW had a differential investigation response whereby an investigation can be undertaken over two stages (stage 1 - information gathering; stage 2 - assessment). Data for ‘Children Seen’ are not comparable to data on investigations and assessments published previously (e.g.: face-to-face assessments). Hence, this service measure is not reported after 2017-18.
Publisher
NSW Department of Communities and Justice
Numerator
Not applicable
Denominator
Not applicable
Data Filters
Highest assessment received
Data Limitations
There are a number of children and young people receiving other child protection services from DCJ, other government departments and non-government organisation during the period for which data is unavailable. DCJ is working to better capture data on these clients.
Data Source
KiDS - Corporate Information Warehouse (CIW)