Follow this procedure for the relevant tasks to complete prior to and when accessing Child Link.
Document ID number 1903, version 2, 3 June 2022.
Please note, Child Link is currently only available to nominated Child Protection staff in Frankston, Bendigo and Intake and supporting operational roles in central office as part of the initial pilot. Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-operative also has access. All Child Protection practitioners will have access to Child Link by the end of 2024.
For the department’s policy on the use of Child Link, including authorisers, users and relevant responsibilities, see Child Link policy.
Child Link is web-based platform that displays information about a child to authorised key professionals who have responsibility for child wellbeing and safety. Child Link will show limited but critical information, such as a child’s participation in key early childhood and education services, maternal child health and if they are, or have been, subject to a protection order. Information relating to reports made to Child Protection, investigations undertaken, and protective intervention will not be shown on Child Link.
For detailed information about Child Link, see Child Link – advice and the Child Link website.
Case practitioner tasks
- Confirm you have access to the Child Link platform via your team manager or equivalent role.
All CPP3-6 and Executive Officers can access Child Link, in addition to some children, youth and family roles (CYF) and central office roles. You will need to have a current working with children check (WWCC) and have completed mandatory training as prerequisites before being provided with access to Child Link.
- Complete the mandatory information sharing training on the OurPeople platform.
- Complete the mandatory Child Link training. This can be accessed via Information Sharing and MARAM Online Learning System.
- After completion of the training, access the Child Link platform via this link. This is for users of Child Link.
- Access the Child Link platform, as an active authoriser via this link.
- Accept the privacy collection notice when accessing the Child Link platform and adhere to all privacy requirements of the system.
- Complete the multi-factor authentication to access the system by providing your departmental email address and a mobile phone number (use department issued numbers where possible).
- Access Child Link at any stage of intervention to seek information on the child and their family.
Follow the principles of the SAFER children framework.
- Once this information has been verified by the child, family or relevant professional, record information sourced from Child Link on CRIS in a case note, using the subject heading <Child Link accessed>.
- Provide Child Link information and purpose to children, families and carers during intervention via the information sheets – Child Link.
Supervisor tasks
- Support the practitioner to complete the mandatory training in order to access Child Link.
- Escalate any issues with onboarding or offboarding to the team manager.
Team manager
- Onboard Child Protection practitioners to Child Link by authorising their access (CPP3 and above only) and adding them as a user.
See Child Link policy and Child Link - advice for the list of roles who can have access to Child Link and suggested roles for authorisations.
- Follow all onboarding requirements. See the Child Link website for instructions on how to authorise a user and associated obligations for authorisers.
To authorise access to Child Link, CPP5 and above need to confirm they are registered as an authoriser. Once this has been completed, child protection practitioners can be onboarded (and offboarded) as required. All users onboarded are the responsibility of the authoriser and will remain on the Child Link dashboard of the authoriser until offboarded.
- Offboard Child Protection practitioners from Child Link if they leave their role and/or the department, if they are long term absent or in circumstances where they temporarily leave the role such as a secondment.
- Review reports provided by the Department of Education and Training to confirm all practitioners on the list remain eligible to be Child Link users.
Senior Child Protection practitioner/Practice leader/Deputy area operations manager/Area operations manager/Child Protection Director/Area Executive Director
- Onboard other senior roles to be Child Link users (as required).
See authorising guide in Child Link – advice for support on authorisations.
- Offboard other senior roles when they no longer require Child Link access.
- Review reports provided by the Department of Education and Training to confirm all practitioners on the list remain eligible to be Child Link users.
Central office roles
- Onboard other central senior roles to be Child Link users (as required).
See authorising guide in Child Link – advice for support on authorisations.
- Offboard other central senior roles when they no longer require Child Link access.
- Review reports provided by the Department of Education and Training to confirm all practitioners on the list remain eligible to be Child Link users.