Reporting Laws and Requirements - VIC
Section 493 states that if a person has a duty of care to a child, and they take, or fail to take action that could reasonably be expected to result in
- the child suffering significant harm as a result of physical injury or sexual abuse, or
- the child suffering emotional or psychological harm of such a kind that the child’s emotional or intellectual development is, or is likely to be, significantly damaged, or
- the child’s physical development or health being significantly harmed
then they commit an offence and can be fined 50 penalty units or jailed for 1 year. Charges can only be brought for this offence after consultation with the Secretary of the DFFH, and action can still be taken even if the harm was prevented by another person.
Section 494 provides an offence for leaving a child unsupervised for an unreasonable period of time.
To get an idea of the full range of offences and matters dealt with by the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005, you should obtain a copy and read it.
Section 493 provides an offence for failing to protect a child from harm. The Act states that a person who has a duty of care to a child, commits an offence if they intentionally take or fail to take action to prevent the child from harm – and harm includes physical injury, sexual abuse, emotional or psychological harm, and harm to physical development or health.
This is an important section for child care professionals to be aware of – because there is no doubt that you owe a duty of care to the children in your care. The key word here is “intentionally”.
The Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 is also clear that your action or failure to take action only has to reasonably be expected to result in harm – so the harm doesn’t have to happen. If you deliberately or intentionally fail to protect a child in your care, then you can be prosecuted and fined or even jailed - regardless of whether the harm to the child was prevented by someone else.
This offence is another reason why you need to take that duty of care seriously. For example, you notice fingerprint bruises around 3 year old Noah’s neck which are unexplained and when you ask him he tells you that his step mum tries to choke him when he’s naughty. It’s Friday afternoon, you know that Noah’s Dad left yesterday to go away for the weekend and step mum is coming to pick up Noah in about an hour. But you have plans after work so you decide not to report this time and wait until Monday. On Monday morning you find that police attended Noah’s house on the weekend when neighbours were concerned about Noah screaming, and Noah ended up being taken into safe custody. The police saw the marks on Noah’s neck, and he told them that he told you about them last time at day care.
Section 494 provides an offence for unreasonable abandonment where a person who has the control or charge of a child must not leave them without supervision for an unreasonable period of time in the circumstances. Anyone in charge of a child, even if only temporarily, can commit this offence. This might be a useful one to communicate to parents who think leaving children in the car is okay while they pick up siblings from your program/organisation/service!