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Data share plan to curb child abuse

Carol Nader
November 20, 2008

CHILD protection authorities may gain access to sensitive information held by the Family Court and Medicare Australia to help locate families with children at risk of abuse and neglect, under recommendations the Federal Government is considering.

A report commissioned by the Government has urged work be done to investigate opportunities for sharing information between the states and federal agencies and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, in time for the Council of Australian Governments meeting in March.

But the Minister for Families and Community Services, Jenny Macklin, said privacy issues around divulging sensitive information would have to be considered before any changes were made to allow greater information sharing.

Last month, COAG agreed that state child protection authorities could access Centrelink information from next year, to find families with children at risk. This particularly applied to families who had moved interstate. Centrelink will also be included in the interstate alerts system used by child protection agencies in all the states to find a family where there are child protection concerns.

The recommendations, by the Allen Consulting Group, will be considered as part of the development of a national child protection framework. Ms Macklin said information sharing would be an important part of the framework.

"We know that one of the obstacles faced by child protection workers is locating families when they move," she said. "By opening communication channels through sharing information already available to Centrelink, child protection agencies will be able to maintain contact with families."

Other measures that are being trialled include allowing child protection workers from next week to recommend that Centrelink quarantines welfare payments in Kununurra, in the Kimberley, and in the Cannington district in Perth. Other welfare quarantining trials are under way at Cape York and in the Northern Territory.

A spokesman for Victorian Community Services Minister Lisa Neville said the state had argued that Centrelink data should be included in information sharing on child protection cases.

The report said the most important information sought by child protection agencies was the location of families or children and any changes in a family's circumstances. Information about a family's whereabouts could also be used by child protection workers to inform parents that orders had been taken out or to tell parents that a child in state care was ill.

Other information that was helpful for child protection workers included parents entering relationships, a change in custody arrangements or the birth or death of a child. And a child's Medicare number ensured that the child got any needed health services.

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