Easy English fact sheets for parents dealing with the child protection system. Advice from parents with experience.

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Community Services NSW

Community Services NSW / Community Services knock on your door
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Community Services knock on your door

Why?

Community Services got a report from someone in the community.
It is called a Child Protection Report.
It says your child may not be safe.
The law says they must talk to you.
Try not to get upset.
Try not to yell at the staff.
Try not to get angry.
The staff will ask you questions.
Tell the truth.
The law says they can also talk to
  • other family
  • people that live next door
  • your childs teachers.
The law also says they can look at
  • your police record
  • your childs health records
  • your health records
  • look into any other things.
It will help then work out if your child is safe.
Write down
  • the names of the staff
  • a phone number you can call them.
Ask the staff
  • what are they worried about
  • what you can do to fix it.
You can get help. Ask a
  • support person
  • advocate.
They can help you
  • check all the information.
  • do the things the staff need you to do.
Some things the staff may worry about
  • violence in front of your child.
Like your partner hits you in front of your child.
Read more about violence in our fact sheet New words.
  • you are on drugs.
    Like marijuana.
    It is also called pot or weed.
  • you drink lots of alcohol all the time.
    Like wine for most of the day every day
  • your child sees lots of sex things.
    They are too young.
Other things the staff may worry about.
  • your child is sick.
    You never take him to the doctor
  • your child is hungry all the time. Like
    the staff see there is no food in your fridge.
  • your house is very dirty.
    Like lots of old food on your kitchen bench
  • your child is not in school.
    You do not take your child to school every day.
Community Services must work out what to do
Is your child safe at home?
Yes. This is good.
There is nothing for you to do.
No. This is not good.
Community Services must do things to help your child be safe.
There are 4 different things they can do.
  1. Look for help for you.
Then
you and your child can stay together.
  1. Meet with you.
    They want your child to be safe.
    They will tell you things you need to do.
Then
They will make a plan with you.
It will help you do those things.
They write it all down.
You can ask for it in a way you can read and use.
Like in Easy English.
It will look like this fact sheet.
Then
You need to do everything in the plan. Like
  • keep your home clean
  • keep unsafe people away from your child.
    Like a new partner who hits your child
The plan is called a Safety plan.
The staff will check you are doing your plan.
  1. Look for a family to care for your child.
    You agree to this.
It will be for a short time.
Like 3 months.
It is called
temporary care arrangement.
Read more about
temporary care arrangement
in our fact sheet New words.
  1. Take your child to live somewhere else.
    They do not think your child is safe.
    This is called removing your child.
Then
You need to go to court about your child.
We have fact sheets that may help you.
Look on our website www.bumpyroad.org.au
Read these fact sheets

More information

The Ability Rights centre made fact sheets.
See IDRS website www.idrs.org.au
This fact sheet is general information.
It may not be the same for you.
Talk to a lawyer about
  • your own child
  • your family.
This fact sheet was made by
  • The WASH House
  • The Ability Rights Centre. A service of IDRS
with
  • a Parent Advisory Group, 2020.
Images
We have used images from
  • ChangePeople
  • Compic
  • Mayer-Johnson
  • Participics
  • Picto-Selector
Access Easy English helped The WASH House write the Easy English.
February 2020.

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