Whilst parents and carers are responsible for the safety and welfare of children in their care, protecting children and young people from abuse and neglect is the responsibility of the whole community.

The Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 mandates DoCS with the responsibility for the care and protection of children and young people in NSW where there are concerns about their safety, welfare and wellbeing.

The NSW Interagency Guidelines for Child Protection Intervention 2006 sets out in practical terms how government and non government agencies work together to protect children and young people.

Child abuse and neglect can happen to any child or young person in any family and can have lasting, damaging effects. To find out more about child abuse, click on this link.

There are many reasons why children are at risk of abuse and neglect. For example:

• their families do not have adequate support from relatives or the community
• their parents are experiencing a lot of stress such as unemployment, illness, isolation or loneliness
• their parents may not have experienced good parenting themselves
• their parents may be alcohol or drug dependent or have mental health issues or there may be domestic violence in the household.

Reporting your concerns about a child or young persons safety or wellbeing is an important step in preventing or stopping the abuse and protecting children from further harm. It also gives DoCS the chance to help families in situations where a child or young person may be at risk.

If you think a child or young person is at risk of harm from abuse or neglect, contact DoCS Helpline on 132 111 (TTY 1 800 212 936).

The DoCS Helpline is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, statewide call centre staffed by professionally qualified Departmental caseworkers to receive and screen all reports of risk of harm and requests for assistance from mandatory and non mandatory reporters.

The Helpline also provides an after hours crisis team to respond to call-outs in metropolitan Sydney, and coordinates after hours responses in metropolitan and rural areas.  If NSW Police or NSW Health support is required, the Helpline will request their assistance. 

Source:   DoCS: protecting children