when must I make a report?
You must make a report to Community Services when you have current concerns about the safety, welfare and wellbeing of a child for any of the following reasons:
- the basic physical or psychological needs of the child or young person are not being met (neglect)
- the parents or caregivers have not arranged necessary medical care (unwilling or unable to do so)
- risk of physical or sexual abuse or ill-treatment (physical or sexual abuse)
- parent or caregiver’s behaviour towards the child causes or risks psychological harm (emotional abuse)
- incidents of domestic violence and as a consequence a child is at risk of serious physical or psychological harm (domestic or family violence).
See more on signs of abuse.
The mandatory reporting obligation does not arise in relation to young people (aged 16 and 17). You can still make a report about a young person who you believe is at risk of harm, however the young person should be involved in the decision to report, unless there are good reasons for excluding them.
If a young person is against a report being made, you can still make a report but must tell Community Services about the young person’s wishes. Community Services must consider these wishes when deciding how to respond to the report.
The NSW Interagency Guidelines for Child Protection Intervention 2006, Chapter 2 of the Guidelines ‘Making a Child Protection Report’ includes information to assist mandatory reporters in understanding their reporting responsibilities, including information about how to identify risk of harm and how to make a report to Community Services.
If you are still unsure about whether you are a mandatory reporter or whether your information indicates risk of harm, the Child Protection Helpline can advise you.
