A Safety Plan should address the immediate safety concerns identified by DCJ in the safety assessment. It is a plan (a document) that has a list of things that you, your family, support team and DCJ caseworker need to do. The Safety Plan document will include a list of things DCJ say are a risk to your child’s safety that are taken from the safety assessment they do with you. They should address only the concerns that relate to safety. DCJ should then work with you and your family to decide who will do what and when and they will call it a ‘task’, based on what DCJ call ‘dangers.’ You can include family, mob, community, and support people in this plan. DCJ says “You have the right to make a plan together. If this does not happen, ask the caseworker”(Guide for Families, p.17). If you can’t talk to the caseworker, you can talk to your lawyer, your support service, or your caseworker’s manager. DCJ should not be making a safety plan for a child a parent is not caring for or responsible for.
The Safety Plan will be reviewed within 72 hours of the initial safety assessment and continue to be monitored by DCJ. It is often done in the first home visit. Because it is supposed to address immediate safety concerns, it only stays relevant for a short time and shouldn’t go on forever.
A safety plan should be developed in partnership with you and your family. It’s important because what is written in the safety plan goes on to be a part of the Family Action Plan (FAP). It should be developed with you. If you are provided with one you have not seen before, or if you did make it with DCJ, you should go through it and highlight anything you don’t agree with, or anything that is untrue or manipulated. Communicate to DCJ and document if you do not think the safety plan is fair or will be helpful. Tell them what you need in writing for the plan to be reasonable or achievable in that time frame. However, be aware that they are making decisions about that plan as they are presenting it to you, because it is supposed to address immediate safety concerns for your child.
If you are following the Safety Plan and it is working, DCJ should not remove your children. But it is Aboriginal parents’ experience that this does still happen, and you will need to make sure you have legal support, advocacy and good personal support around you. Standard 8.2 of the Practice Framework Standards says that DCJ must be clear, respectful and honest about why they are involved, what they are worried about, what needs to change, what these changes mean for children and families, and what they will do to help. In DCJ’s Practice Framework Standards, Standard 6 says that DCJ caseworkers need to provide evidence that the safety plans: “were easy to follow, were agreed on by all family members and are effective immediately.”
Because the safety plan is supposed to address immediate safety concerns, it only stays relevant for a short time and shouldn’t go on forever. Safety Plans should be getting changed often, as you work towards goals. As DCJ’s safety concerns are addressed, there should be less items on there and they should not be adding to the plan. If they are adding, these are things that should be in a Family Action Plan, as there is no need for ongoing Safety Planning. One parent has said:
“They expect you to keep jumping through more hoops and more hoops and more hoops and more hoops. But you’ve already jumped through that f*cking hoop. You know what I mean? I jumped through enough to the point where they tried making me do stuff, I’d be like, but I’ve already done this. I’ve already done that.”
– Parent, Bring Them Home, Keep Them Home research
If you decide you want a family member to take care of your child, this should be done through a ‘family arrangement’, not a safety plan. A family arrangement is when a family makes their own plans without DCJ, for their child to stay with another family member, so they are not involved with DCJ or legal processes. Safety plans cannot be used to move a child to another house, as lawful removal needs a Court Order in place or the use of emergency removal powers. But this has happened to some Aboriginal families. If your family has made the family-led decision to move your child to someone’s house like a Nan or Aunty (called a family arrangement), without it being in the Safety Plan, it is different. If they take your child somewhere without your permission, and then ask you to sign a Safety Plan, this is unlawful and you should seek urgent legal advice.
DCJ are required to give you a copy of the Safety Plan.
The Practice Framework Standards say that DCJ need to have evidence when safety planning of:
Standard 6 of the Practice Framework Standards says that DCJ need to have evidence that “the family’s support network was drawn on throughout the assessment process.” Standard 4.2 states DCJ are required to give you a copy of the safety plan.
What if they refuse to make changes?
If DCJ are not listening, you can work to make changes to the safety plan with the help of your lawyer, support worker and advocate. If you think, or you know your caseworker has not followed the Practice Framework Standards appropriately, you can document this and talk to your lawyer. You can also speak to your caseworker and ask them why they have not followed the DCJ Practice Framework Standards. You can also make a complaint.
If someone is using domestic, family, or sexual violence and/or coercive control, DCJ should be making a separate safety plan for the victim/survivor and keep it a secret from the person who uses violence.
The Safety Plan can be verbal so the person who uses violence can’t find it (understanding that it will likely be captured in a casenote by the caseworker, and recorded on DCJ’s system). The formal, written Safety Plan should be focusing on the person who uses violence and what they need to change to create safety for the child. DCJ should be focusing on what the victim/survivor parent is doing to protect themselves and their children. However, it is some Aboriginal mothers’ experience that DCJ remove children from a mother who is a victim/survivor of violence and then place that child with the father’s family, who often has access to the child. One mother said:
“They knew the domestic violence issues with dad. That was their justification for the removal. They knew I was planning to leave, and yet they placed my child for the first two weeks with his mum in her home.”
– Parent, Bring Them Home, Keep Them Home research
This safety planning step is really important to trying to stop DCJ’s plan to remove children from their mothers. It is DCJ’s responsibility to prioritise your safety, and you asking for help is an example of asking for protection. If DCJ do try to blame you as the victim/survivor, then you can do these things , if you feel safe enough:
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.
