Care and protection

Your responsibilities as a parent

As a parent, you are responsible for caring for your child and keeping them safe from harm. You must financially support your child and provide them with food, clothing, and a safe place to live. You must ensure your child receives an education and has access to medical treatment. You must provide them with appropriate supervision and control.

If the Department of Community Services (DCJ) has taken, or is going to take, your child into care, you should get urgent legal advice.

Reporting a child or young person at risk of harm

If you believe a child or young person is at risk of harm, you can call the Child Protection Helpline on 13 2111 or the police. The Child Protection Helpline is open 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. Anyone can make a report to the helpline.

If you believe a child or young person is at immediate risk of harm, you should call Triple Zero (000).

You can make a report about: 

• a child or young person at risk of significant harm
• an unborn child at risk of significant harm
• a homeless child or young person.

For more information, see Reporting a child at risk on the Department of Communities and Justice website.

Welfare investigations

DCJ is responsible for protecting children and young people from the risk of harm, abuse, and neglect in NSW. 

Where a child or young person needs urgent protection, DCJ can take a child into care and start a case in the Children’s Court of NSW.

DCJ has wide powers to thoroughly investigate reports about the safety, welfare and wellbeing of a child or young person.

If DCJ is investigating a report about the safety or wellbeing of your child, they might:

• ask a local DCJ office to make a further assessment of the report
• talk to people to find out about your family's circumstances, for example your child's teacher, childcare worker or relatives
• interview you and your family
• move your child to a safer place, if they are at immediate risk of serious harm
• take no further action.

If DCJ is speaking to you about your child, you should get urgent legal advice.

For more information, see What happens once a report is made to the Child Protection Helpline? on the Department of Communities and Justice website.

My child is in need of care and protection

If DCJ decides that your child is in need of care and protection, it may:

• arrange for support services to be provided to your family
• make a temporary care arrangement with you for your child 
• develop an agreed care plan with your family
• develop a parent responsibility contract with the primary caregivers of your child 
• apply to the Court for a parent responsibility order 
• take your child into care and apply to the Children's Court of NSW for care orders, if it considers your child is at risk of significant harm. 

If DCJ has found your child is in need of care and protection, you should get urgent legal advice.

Legal Aid NSW mediation

Legal Aid NSW mediations allow you to have open discussions with DCJ about the concerns they have for the safety of your child, with the assistance of a lawyer.

The purpose of mediation is to put in place arrangements to keep your child safe at home and avoid the need to go to court.

They are also an opportunity for families to contribute to discussions about how to keep your child safe.

For more information, see Care and Protection Early Intervention Mediation.

Legal Aid NSW runs these mediations in accordance with the Legal Assistance for Families Partnership Agreement (LAFPA). This is an agreement between the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ), the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) and Legal Aid NSW, which sets out how the agencies will work collaboratively to keep children safe at home, and reduce the number of children and young people entering out of home care. 

For more information, see Legal Assistance for Families: Partnership Agreement (LAFPA).

Grandparents and relatives

If you are concerned about the safety of your grandchild, you can:

• call the police
• call the Child Protection Helpline on 132 111
• get legal advice.

If DCJ is investigating a report about the welfare of your grandchild, a caseworker may ask to speak with you. They may also ask you to attend a Family Group Conference to work out the support that is needed to allow your grandchild to remain in the care of their parents. Before you attend a Family Group Conference, you should get legal advice.

If DCJ has taken your grandchild into care, you may want your grandchild placed into your care. DCJ will need to assess you and your household to make sure that you will provide your grandchild with a safe place to live. They will do this even if you have cared for your grandchild in the past. If you want your grandchild to be placed in your care, you then you should tell DCJ as soon as possible and get legal advice.