Care and protection order (CPO) file cluster

Identifying and definitional attributes
Metadata item type:	Data Set Specification
METEOR identifier:	688438
Registration status:	Children and Families, Superseded 20/01/2021
DSS type:	Data Element Cluster
Scope:	The Care and protection order file cluster contains information about care and protection orders issued to the clients in the Child protection (CP) client data set specification. This includes care and protection orders that were issued and/or applicable, including those that ended, during the reference period. Children should be counted in the state or territory where the order is operative, regardless of where the child is residing. Children aged less than 18 years on the following care and protection orders/arrangements (or children discharged from those care and protection orders/arrangements on their 18^th birthday) are included in the scope of the collection: Finalised guardianship or custody orders Finalised third party parental responsibility Finalised supervisory orders Interim and temporary orders Administrative arrangements Assessment orders. Also included are appropriate authorities for the placement of children in out-of-home care that are outside the scope of care and protection orders (as defined above). These may include administrative authority for placement of young offenders, arrangements that cover the placement of unaccompanied humanitarian minors (orders made under the Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Act 1946), interstate orders or administrative and voluntary arrangements with the Department responsible for child protection which do not have the effect of transferring custody or guardianship. To help track the paths of children adopted from care, information on finalised known carer adoption orders and finalised local adoption orders are also included in the file.

Collection and usage attributes
Guide for use:	For this file a person is a child or young person aged less than 18 years. This includes unborn children in jurisdictions where they are covered under the child protection legislation.
Collection methods:	Each new order a child is placed on will be a new line in the file, delineated by a start and end date.
Implementation start date:	01/07/2015
Implementation end date:	30/06/2017
Comments:	Data are extracted as at 31 August. The 2016–17 reporting period is the main collection period. Data for 2015–16 are also collected to allow specific calculations to be undertaken.
Source and reference attributes
Submitting organisation:	Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Steward:	Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Origin:	Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2017. Child protection national minimum data set, data collection manual 2016–17. Canberra: AIHW.
Relational attributes
Related metadata references:	Supersedes Care and protection order (CPO) file cluster Children and Families, Superseded 20/04/2018 Has been superseded by Care and protection order (CPO) file cluster Children and Families, Superseded 11/05/2023
Implementation in Data Set Specifications: All attributes +	Child protection NMDS 2016-17 Children and Families, Superseded 21/01/2021 DSS specific attributes + Implementation start date: 01/07/2015 Implementation end date: 30/06/2017

Metadata items in this Data Set Specification

Seq No.	Metadata item	Obligation	Max occurs
1	Person—person identifier, child protection NX[X(11)] *DSS specific information:* The person identifier (ID) is the identifier for the child (the child protection client) within a State or Territory. The person ID in the Care and protection order file must appear in the Child Protection client file.	Mandatory	1
2	Order—order start date, DDMMYYYY *DSS specific information:* 'Order start date' is the date the Care and protection order came into effect and must be equal to or preceding 'Order end date'. Valid date occurs on or before the 31 August reference period. When an estimate is required, all known fields should be entered (e.g. if year and month are known use 01MMYYY; 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, please record 01011900.	Mandatory	1
3	Order—order type, care and protection code N[N]	Mandatory	1
4	Child—first care and protection order indicator, yes/no/not applicable/not stated/inadequately described code N *DSS specific information:* Code 9 'Not stated/inadequately described' in the data element is equivalent to code 99 in the Child protection national minimum data set collection manual.	Mandatory	1
5	Order—National Out-of-Home Care standards (NOOHCS) order indicator, yes/no/not applicable/not stated/inadequately described code N *DSS specific information:* Code 9 'Not stated/inadequately described' in the data element is equivalent to code 99 in the Child protection national minimum data set collection manual.	Mandatory	1
6	Order—order end date, DDMMYYYY *DSS specific information:* 'Order end date' is the date the care and protection order is no longer applicable and must be equal to or later than 'Order start date'. Valid date, if applicable, occurs between 1 July of the first reporting period and 31 August following the last reporting period. When an estimate is required, all known fields should be entered (e.g. if year and month are known use 01MMYYY; 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, please record 01011900. If it is not applicable to record a date (i.e. the order had not ended by the end of the reference period) please record 01019999 for this item.	Mandatory	1
7	Service episode—episode start date, DDMMYYYY *DSS specific information:* Where the care and protection order was part of a preceding continuous order episode, this item records the start date of the first order in the episode. An order episode is the period of time in which a child remains on an order. During this period, a child may be on one or more different orders. If a child is discharged from an order and a new care and protection order/arrangement is applied in five (5) days or less of the discharge, the orders are deemed to be consecutive (i.e. the continuous episode of care will include both order). However, a break of more the five (5) days will break the continuity of care. Valid date, if applicable, occurs on or before 31 August following the reference period. Date must precede 'Order start date'. 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. If it is not applicable to record a date (i.e. the order was not part of a preceding continuous order episode or if code ‘7’ ‘Other’ was recorded for ‘Order type – national’), please record 01019999.	Mandatory	1