“If DCJ rocked up on my doorstep now, right, unannounced, rocked up – I don’t got to let them into my house. They’ve got to make an appointment – and I know that, because DCJ wanted to come here and do a safety assessment. I know my rights and youse ain’t coming, because you’ve got nothing to come to my house for. I said… was any reports made on my house? She goes, no. I said, well, there you go – you’re not coming to my house. Yeah, they dropped it… I said, I already know you don’t need to come – and even if you did, you’re not coming.”
– Parent, Bring Them Home, Keep Them Home research
– Parent, BTHKTH research
“They said that…if I refused to cooperate with their safety assessment and… refused to do the safety assessment… that was a good enough reason for them to take our kids. That’s how it started.”
– Parent, Bring Them Home, Keep Them Home research
“Saying that they had knocked and if I didn’t open the door, then they would call the police…He starts freaking out because it’s not even his house. It’s his uncle’s house. We’re just down there to clean it…He’s like, no, I can’t bring him in here. I was like, we have to otherwise they’re going to think something’s going on. Then because he had locked the door, they just suspected that we were hiding something… The reports were that I have a meth lab and I’m a crack addict and stuff like that…They said that we were living at the uncles. I was like, no, we’re living at his Nan’s. You can come and look at his Nan’s. They refused to come to his Nan’s, because of the AVO…I had to take them up to the [old] house that I’m moving out…They were bugging me for weeks…telling me that we need to do an assessment and I needed a place to do an assessment in…But then when the worker changed, then they told me they already did the assessment… at the [old] house… I’m like, no youse fucking didn’t…I wasn’t living there. They were like, it doesn’t matter.”
– Parent, Bring Them Home, Keep Them Home research
This will be your first assessment with DCJ will do with you. It can happen on DCJ’s first visit and when circumstances change, like the people in your house changing, to check if their plans are keeping your child safe, or they are looking to close your case.
The purpose is to see if your child is safe and if there are supports that DCJ can give.
DCJ read the Risk of Significant Harm (ROSH) report made to the Child Protection Helpline and then investigate if this report is true. They often go to the family home to determine how safe children are in their home. There will usually be two caseworkers that come, and one of them might call their manager to help decide if your child is safe or do this back at the DCJ office. One will usually take notes. Both of them should introduce themselves. There are three possible outcomes at the end of the assessment which are: ‘Safe’, ‘Safe with a plan’, or ‘Unsafe’. ‘Safe’ means that there have been no dangers identified, and the case moves onto the next stage, the Family-Based Assessment, or the case is closed. ‘Safe with a plan’ means DCJ says there are dangers that can be helped with supports and a safety plan is then made with your family and DCJ to set goals. ‘Unsafe’ means DCJ have decided that there are dangers that cannot be helped with a safety plan and your child/ren will be removed, either into a ‘Temporary Care Arrangement’ (if you agree to that) or they are removed and placed in out-of-home care.
A removal should only happen if the outcome of the safety assessment is ‘Unsafe’. ‘Safe’ or ‘Safe with a plan’ means that DCJ should be focusing on helping you to achieve the goals they set out for you and your family, which they say increases safety for your child/ren. If you are labelled as ‘Safe with a plan’, but DCJ thinks you are not engaging in developing a plan, DCJ can remove your child/ren. DCJ are required by law to apply “active efforts” to prevent your child from being removed (section 9A of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998). If the outcome is ‘Unsafe’ and a child is going to be removed, it is the responsibility of DCJ to ensure the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child and Young Person Placement Principles are followed. This also does not mean that they stop supporting you or making active efforts to work with you for your child to be returned to your care, but it’s the experience of parent’s that DCJ stop their support (if they had gotten it) after their child was removed.
If you are labelled as ‘Unsafe’, your child can be removed at this stage. Aboriginal parents have said that you need to have an appropriate support person there for you who can advocate for you as you are likely to be feeling very emotional and possibly confused about what is happening.
Many parents feel shame to let their family know what is going on and do not want to involve their family, but this is the right time to involve family members. After this assessment, families should have an opportunity to have a family gathering and/or Family Group Conference and then to develop a Safety Plan.
Refusing to allow DCJ to see your child in your home will most likely be viewed badly by DCJ but may be protective for you and your family. You should ask why they need to come in. It’s important to know if they have made a decision to remove your child, they can legally enter your home without a warrant.
DCJ are collecting evidence for Court as soon as they engage with you, through documenting. There are some things that you might do or not do that DCJ can view in a certain way. Showing willingness to work with DCJ will most likely look good for you, but refusing to work with them might make DCJ label you as being ‘non- compliant.’ Even if you do everything DCJ wants you to, DCJ might still be against you.
DCJ will ask you to identify who the ‘primary carer’ is, meaning the person who cares for your child the most. It can be hard to choose just one person, as this process doesn’t recognise how Aboriginal families can have different responsibilities for different family members within a large family (collective caring). It’s other Aboriginal parents’ experience that this also means that the evidence DCJ are collecting is on the primary parent (usually mum), and the other parent is not being looked at as closely.
DCJ should not be coercing you into anything, but it is Aboriginal parents’ experience that this has happened before. Coercion is “the action of making somebody do something that they do not want to do, using force or threatening to use force” (Oxford Learners Dictionaries). If DCJ say that you should sign what they call ‘Temporary Care Arrangement’ (or a ‘TCA’) at this point, you should not sign anything without first seeking legal advice that you trust. Support people are important as you will always need witnesses to help protect you from the system. Preservation of your family should be the Case Plan Goal at this stage in the process, meaning caseworkers should be looking at supports or changes that can be made so DCJ lets your child stay at home with you. DCJ is legally required to make ‘Active Efforts’ to keep your child at home. ‘Active Efforts’ means the level of effort your DCJ caseworker should be putting in to support you, engage with your family, and do everything they can so that your child doesn’t enter into out-of-home care. The actions they make must be practical, quick enough, and based on the main ‘risk’ factors present in your case. Active efforts also means that DCJ needs to be working in partnership with the child’s family and community and to be culturally appropriate. Active efforts will look different for each family because they need to be based on your own family’s unique needs. If DCJ do not make active efforts, this can be used against DCJ in Court and they will be scrutinised. Caseworkers should be looking at your strengths, as Standard 6 in DCJ’s Practice Framework Standards says they need to have evidence that “strengths and protective abilities were discussed.” It is a good idea to already have in mind a list of your strengths and your family’s protective factors. Standard 6 of DCJ’s Practice Framework Standards says that DCJ need to have evidence when doing a safety assessment of:
AbSec and our partners acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout NSW and their continuing connections to land, waters, and communities. We also acknowledge the lands on which these stories were told, the lands of the Dharawal, Yuin and Wonnarua people.
We acknowledge the Elders, leaders and advocates that have led the way and continue to fight for our children. We also acknowledge the Stolen Generations who never came home and the ongoing impact of government policy and practice on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people and families.
This website shares the experiences and advice of Aboriginal families involved in the NSW child protection system who participated in the Bring Them Home, Keep Them Home research at UNSW. We acknowledge and thank the families who generously gave permission to share their stories.
These experiences reflect what worked for those families and do not constitute advice or views of AbSec. AbSec recommends seeking independent legal advice for your own circumstances.
