The child protection manual contains the requirements for statutory child protection practice in Victoria.
The manual provides essential procedural guidance for:
- child protection practitioners and managers
- community service organisation staff providing case management and
- out-of-home care services and carers.
The child protection manual brings together current research and knowledge. It separates procedural requirements from practice guidance, information resources, tools, protocols and service descriptions.
The manual operationalises the legislative requirements of the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (CYFA) and is designed to complement regular professional supervision and professional development.
As in the CYFA, the term children used in the manual refers to both children and young people.
Sections
Procedures and policies
This section contains policy statements and lists procedures for practitioners, supervisors, team managers and other staff. This is the part of the manual you should go to first.
Advice and protocols
This section contains the contextual information you need to better understand the tasks outlined in procedures. This section also houses the protocols child protection has with our service partners, descriptions of services, flowcharts, tools and checklists and information sheets. Child protection forms are also in this section, however are accessible only to child protection practitioners.
Our approach
This section contains information about the Best interests case practice model, specialist resources, privacy information, multi-disciplinary practice, roles and responsibilities.
Our workforce
This section includes information about the child protection operating model, staff safety and wellbeing, supervision, workload management and delegations.
Child protection in Victoria
For information about child protection in Victoria, including guidance about making a report to child protection or Child FIRST, see the department’s website.