Reporting Laws and Requirements - VIC

Child First/The Orange Door - Reports or Referrals
Notes:

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Child FIRST/ The Orange Door (Child and Family Information, Referral and Support Teams):

  • provides a central referral point to a range of community-based family services and other supports within each of the Child FIRST/ The Orange Door catchment areas.
  • is a community based intake service to Family Services to provide support to vulnerable children, young people and their families.

Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 states that any person can:

if they have a significant concern for the wellbeing of

  • a child, or
  • an unborn child after they’re born.

These reports will involve concerns where there is low to moderate impact on the child and their immediate safety is not compromised.

Information:

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At the lower end of the reporting scale, where there’s no risk to the immediate safety of the child, the family may benefit from some support and assistance from Family Services - and you can ensure this happens by referring to Child FIRST/ The Orange Door. Child FIRST/The Orange Door is a community based intake service to Family Services to provide support for vulnerable children, young people and their families.

This is a wonderful alternative for reporting when you’re not sure that your concerns are serious enough for a child protection report – but you recognise that the family may need some education, assistance and support in order to keep them out of the child protection system.

An example of this would be a family where the children are often dirty and unsupervised, and parenting styles involve a lot of yelling and screaming that often escalates into physical punishment for the children or domestic disputes – particularly when alcohol is involved. Child FIRST/The Orange Door is for those cases where the family is not yet embroiled in the child protection system but they’re knocking on the door!

Victorian Child FIRST Catchments

Contact Numbers- Victorian Child FIRST