Child protection notifications consist of reports made to an authorised department by persons or other bodies making allegations of child abuse or neglect, child maltreatment or harm to a child.

A notification can involve only one child; where it is claimed that two children have been abused or neglected, this is counted as two notifications, even if the children are from one family. Where there is more than one notification about the same ‘event’, this is counted as only one notification. Where there is more than one notification for a child in the reference period, but relating to different events (for instance, a different type of abuse or neglect or a different person believed responsible for the abuse or neglect), these notifications should be counted as separate notifications.

The notification date occurs on or before the 'date of notification assessment decision'.

The date should be recorded as an 8-digit valid date comprising day, month and year. Year should always be recorded in its full 4-digit format. For day and months with a numeric value of less than 10, zeros should be used to ensure that the date contains the required 8 digits. For example, if the notification was made on 1 July 2004, the date should be recorded as 01072004.

When an estimate is required, all known fields should be entered (e.g. if year and month are known use 01MMYYYY; if the exact date is unknown but the reporting period to which it relates can be determined, use 0107YYYY).

If the date is not known and can’t be estimated, record 01011900.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2013. Child protection national minimum data set, data collection manual 2012-13. Canberra: AIHW.