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Child safety, welfare and wellbeing is at the centre of information sharing practice. Information sharing is a key part of collaboration as it allows organisations to work together and make informed decisions, including how services can best meet a family’s needs.
Sharing personal information about children and their families must be lawful, which means either gaining consent, or working within relevant legislation. Information sharing by consent, where possible, is important to meaningful work with families to facilitate change. Consent may be obtained verbally or in writing; however, you should not seek consent if doing so might compromise the safety of a child or any other person.
For more information visit the NSW Information and Privacy Commission.
Chapter 16A of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection Act) 1998 (the Care Act) facilitates the sharing of information that relates to the safety, welfare or wellbeing of children in NSW. Chapter 16A of the NSW Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 applies to children (0-15 years), young people (16 or 17 years) or a class of children or young people. The term children has been used here for ease of reading.
Chapter 16A was introduced following the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW. It is designed to promote child safety and wellbeing through simpler and more comprehensive information sharing across the sector.
Chapter 16A highlights the critical need for interagency collaboration, and the paramount importance of the safety, welfare or wellbeing of children. Consent is not required to share information using Chapter 16A. Chapter 16A empowers agencies and practitioners to share information under certain conditions. A provision of any other Act or law that prohibits or restricts the disclosure of information does not operate to prevent the provision of information under Chapter 16A (section 245H).
Section 245G provides protection from liability for persons who share information in accordance with Chapter 16A. This include protection from any civil, criminal or disciplinary action.
You do not need to have made a child protection report to share information using Chapter 16A (with the exception of unborn children, as per section 245B of the Care Act).
Organisations that are ‘prescribed bodies’ can share information using Chapter 16A. A prescribed body is an agency or organisation that has responsibility for the provision of services to children. Prescribed bodies are outlined in section 248(6) of the Care Act, and Clause 8 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Regulation 2012 (Care Regulation) and include:
The Exchanging Information and Coordination of Services with Private Health Professionals factsheet provides clarity on which health professionals are included under 16A.
Information can only be shared between prescribed bodies. You cannot share information with an organisation that is not a prescribed body.
To provide (section 245C) or request (section 245D) information it must relate to the safety, welfare or wellbeing of a particular child or class of children. The information must be for the purposes of assisting a prescribed body to:
No, section 245C (2) provides that information may be provided under Chapter 16A regardless of whether a request has been made. This means that prescribed bodies in NSW can proactively share information if the requirements of Chapter 16A are met.
Under section 245B of the Care Act you can only share information about safety, welfare or wellbeing concerns for an unborn child and their family if a report has been made to the Child Protection Helpline or where a referral has been made to a Child Wellbeing Unit about the unborn child.
There are some circumstances where a prescribed body can refuse to provide information, including that the provision of the information would prejudice care proceedings or endanger a person’s life or physical safety. If a prescribed body refuses to provide information it must provide the requesting agency with written reasons for refusing the request (section 245D(4)).
Any information provided under Chapter 16A must not be used for any purpose that is not associated with the safety, welfare or wellbeing of the child or class of children to whom the information relates (section 245F).
NSW prescribed bodies can share information with the statutory child protection bodies in other Australian jurisdictions listed in Clause 8(2)(g)-(m) of the Care Regulation. However, it does not require agencies outside of NSW to provide information to a prescribed body in NSW upon request, though a request can be made.
Section 248 of the Care Act empowers the Secretary of DCJ to:
Section 231V allows DCJ to share information with statutory child protection bodies in other Australian jurisdictions and New Zealand.
There are a number of other pieces of legislation in NSW that contain information sharing provisions for specific purposes. These include but are not limited to:
07 May 2024