Child protection notification—source of notification, code N[N]

Identifying and definitional attributes

• Children and Families, Standard 22/11/2016
• Community Services (retired), Recorded 19/08/2011 [Non Dictionary]

Value domain attributes

Representational attributes

Collection and usage attributes

CODE 1 Subject child

Any person who notifies the department regarding a concern about themselves.

CODE 2 Parent/guardian

A natural or substitute parent, spouse of a natural parent, adoptive parent or spouse of an adoptive parent or any other person who has an ongoing legal responsibility for the care and protection of a child.

CODE 3 Sibling/Other relative

Sibling includes a natural (i.e. biological), adopted, foster, step-brother or half-brother or sister.

Other relative includes a grandparent, aunt, uncle or cousin. The relationship can be full, half or step, or through adoption, and can be traced through, or to, a person whose parents were not married to each other at the time of his or her birth. This category also includes members of Indigenous communities who are accepted by that community as being related to the child.

CODE 4 Friend/neighbour

An unrelated person or acquaintance who is known to, or lives in close proximity to, the subject child or their family, or to the person believed responsible for the abuse or neglect.

CODE 5 Medical practitioner

This category includes only registered medical practitioners. This includes both general practitioners and specialists in hospitals or in the community.

CODE 6 Other health personnel

Any person engaged in supplementary, paramedical and/or ancillary medical services (for example, nurses, infant welfare sisters, dentists, radiographers, physiotherapists and pharmacists). It does not include social workers and non-medical hospital/health centre personnel.

CODE 7 Hospital/health centre

Any person not elsewhere classified who is employed at a public or private hospital or other health centre or clinic.

CODE 8 Social worker

Any person engaged in providing a social or welfare work service in the community.

CODE 9 School personnel

Any appropriately trained person involved in the instruction of, or imparting of knowledge to, children or providing direct support for this education. This includes teachers, teachers' aides, school principals and counsellors who work in preschool, kindergarten, primary, secondary, technical, sporting or art and crafts education.

CODE 10 Child care personnel

Any person engaged in providing occasional, part-time or full-time day care for children.

CODE 11 Police

Any member of a Commonwealth, state or territory law enforcement agency.

CODE 12 Departmental officer

Any person, not classified above, who is employed by a state or territory community services department.

CODE 13 Non-government organisation

Any non-government organisation not classified above that provides services to the community on a non-profit-making basis.

CODE 14 Anonymous

This category covers all those notifications received from a person who does not give his or her name.

CODE 88 Other

All other persons or organisations not classified above (e.g. ministers of religion or government agencies and instrumentalities not classified above).

CODE 99 Not stated/inadequately described

This category includes all reports that are received from an unknown source.

The categories for ‘Hospital/health centre', ‘Departmental officer’, ‘Non-government organisation’ and ‘Other’ should only be used for people that could not be elsewhere classified. For example, a medical practitioner employed at a public or private hospital should be recorded as a ‘Medical practitioner’ not as ‘Hospital/health centre'.

Source and reference attributes

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Data element attributes

Collection and usage attributes

This data element refers to the personal or professional capacity of the person who is making the notification. For example, if a person contacts the department as a concerned neighbour and in the conversation it becomes apparent that this person is a police officer, this person is still recorded as a neighbour, as they did not call in their capacity as a police officer.

The source of notification is classified according to the relationship to the child allegedly abused or neglected or harmed.

This item should be recorded at the time of the notification to the Department responsible for child protection. If a notification is made more than once about the same event, then only the first notification is recorded. Therefore, only the first person to notify about the event should be recorded.

Source and reference attributes

Research, Evaluation and Data Working Group (REDWG).

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

Relational attributes