IMPORTANT NOTE: from 15 January 2018, for department-funded organisations and Victorian registered NDIS providers of disability and psychosocial supports, the new client incident management system (CIMS) applies.
The new Client incident management guide and Client incident management guide addendum out-of-home-care describe the requirements for reporting and managing quality of care concerns and the Guidelines for responding to quality of care concerns in out-of-home-care no longer apply for client incidents occurring in department-funded organisations and NDIS providers from this date.
See the CIMS webpage for more information about CIMS and the new Client incident management guide and Client incident management guide addendum out-of-home-care.
For department-delivered services and client incidents prior to 15 January 2018
When children and young people are placed in out-of-home care, it is the shared responsibility of out-of-home carers, CSOs and the department to ensure their safety, stability and wellbeing.
A challenging issue for all those working with children and young people in out-of-home care is managing concerns about the quality of care being provided to children and young people who reside in out-of-home care placements.
Quality of care concerns refer to any concern that has the potential to compromise a child’s safety, stability and development in the context of their age, stage of life and their culture and gender.
Quality of care concerns cover a wide range of issues, ranging from serious allegations of physical or sexual abuse or neglect, to concerns about the quality or standard of care being provided to a child.
Guidelines for responding to quality of care concerns in out-of-home care
These guidelines have been developed to ensure that quality of care concerns relating to home-based carers (including lead tenants), residential carers and kinship carers are responded to in a consistent and timely manner. We must be confident that children and young people in care are safe and well cared for and that carers are supported and treated fairly while concerns are investigated.
Companion documents
Three companion documents to the guidelines:
- Guidelines for responding to quality of care concerns in out-of-home care: Information for out-of-home carers
- Guidelines for responding to quality of care concerns in out-of-home care: Information for Child Protection and community service organisations
- Quality of care concerns in out-of-home care: A guide for carers - Technical update 2014.