The Client Incident Management System (CIMS) policy applies to department-delivered or department-funded service providers. The Child Protection program is a department-delivered service provider.
CIMS purpose is to safeguard clients by providing timely and effective responses to incidents that harm them during service delivery. This enables service providers to enhance service delivery by learning from incidents.
Incidents that harm, are alleged to have harmed, or were reasonably likely to cause serious harm to children in care require a CIMS incident report and follow up actions, such as a CIMS investigation or review.
The CIMS policy and guidance document, including incident definitions, is found at https://providers.dffh.vic.gov.au/cims
- Absent client
- Attempted suicide
- Death
- Emotional/psychological abuse
- Emotional/psychological harm
- Escape from secure facility
- Financial abuse
- Inappropriate physical treatment
- Inappropriate sexual behaviour
- Injury-explained
- Injury-unexplained
- Medication error
- Neglect
- Physical abuse
- Self-harm
- Serious risk
- Sexual abuse
- Sexual exploitation - grooming
- Sexual exploitation - suspected
An illness, or dangerous actions by a child or young person, are not reportable CIMS incidents.
When submitting an incident report, practitioners will need to classify the incident as a major or non-major impact incident. All incidents of abuse, neglect, or sexual exploitation – grooming where a staff member or carer is the subject of allegation must be classified as major impact. See 1518 Allegations of harm to clients in care.
Child Protection is responsible for CIMS reporting when the child is in the care of anyone other than a parent, approved by Child Protection or an Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care provider (Note that ‘parent’ means the same as defined in the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005). This includes when a child:
- resides in a Child Protection-managed kinship placement
- is in the care of a child protection practitioner (such as during supervised contact, or transporting a client to school)
- is in respite care with a caregiver approved by Child Protection (such as another family member, following assessment by Child Protection).
Community Service Organisations (CSOs) are responsible for the CIMS incident report and follow up when a child is case contracted to their organisation, or when a child is residing in a CSO provided placement (such as residential care or home-based care – foster care).
Incidents that occur when the child is in the care of a parent are not in scope of CIMS.
Incidents in scope of both CIMS and the Social Services Regulator
Under the Social Services Regulation Act, registered social service providers (including the department’s Child Protection services) must notify the Social Services Regulator as soon as reasonably practicable of any serious incident that has occurred, or may pose a serious risk to service users during the delivery of a service.
- Critical notifiable incidents are reported directly to the Regulator by close of business the next business day. This requires completion of a critical notifiable incident short form available on the Regulator’s website (see link below). A full incident report must also be submitted within 3 business days using CIMS. Information on what a critical notifiable incident is can be found on the Social Services Regulator’s website.
- Notifiable incidents are reported by submitting a CIMS incident report within 3 business days for incidents in scope of CIMS – see 1518 Allegations of harm to clients in care – Client Incident Management System (CIMS). CIMS is the main framework for service providers that are in scope of CIMS and the Social Services Regulator to report serious incidents to the Regulator.
- The department shares CIMS information with the Regulator under a strict information sharing protocol that provides the Regulator with access to CIMS information in scope of incident reporting requirements under the Social Services Regulation Act.
Incidents in scope of both CIMS and the Reportable Conduct Scheme (RCS)
- Before responding to an allegation of harm in care or commencing any investigation of the incident, child protection must contact the Integrity team, Executive Services Branch for advice on whether an incident investigation must be completed as a Reportable Conduct Scheme Investigation Reportable conduct scheme.
- Incidents that are in scope of both an RCS and CIMS investigation must follow the DFFH Reportable Conduct Scheme policy and procedures https://dhhsvicgovau.sharepoint.com/sites/dffh/SitePages/Reportable-conduct-scheme.aspx
- Child Protection will complete such an investigation using a DFFH Reportable Conduct Scheme template, and the Integrity Team will submit this to the Commission for Children and Young People.
- When endorsed by the Integrity team, the RCS investigation reports are submitted into the CIMS system to satisfy CIMS investigation requirements.
- This report must include a Recommendations section, to satisfy CIMS policy.