Today’s correspondent has:
… a question surrounding mandatory reporting. If a registered health care professional volunteers their time in a community organisation (non-clinical) and they hear a child make a disclosure… is it adequate for the clinician to follow the organisations reporting channels or is the clinician (who is not in a clinical capacity) still required to make their own report? I got asked this question and I didn’t know how to answer it. This question was asked in QLD.
This is mandatory reporting under the Child Protection Act 1999 (Qld), not mandatory reporting under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.
The Child Protection Act says that a ‘relevant person’; that is:
(a) a doctor;
(b) a registered nurse;
(c) a teacher;
(d) a police officer who, under a direction given by the commissioner of the police service under the Police Service Administration Act 1990, is responsible for reporting under this section;
(e) a person engaged to perform a child advocate function under the Public Guardian Act 2014; [or]
(f) an early childhood education and care professional.:
is required to report a ‘reportable suspicion about a child in the course of the person’s engagement as a relevant person’ (s 13E(3)). A ‘reportable suspicion’ is (s 13E(2)):
… a reasonable suspicion that the child—
(a) has suffered, is suffering, or is at unacceptable risk of suffering, significant harm caused by physical or sexual abuse; and
(b) may not have a parent able and willing to protect the child from the harm.
The first thing to note is that it’s not all registered health professionals. There are 15 registered health professions, but s 13E only applies to medical practitioners and nurses. For those professionals the obligation to report arises if they form the ‘reportable suspicion’ ‘in the course of the person’s engagement as a …’ medical practitioner or nurse. What follows is if they form the belief whilst volunteering in another role, eg volunteering as part of their child’s sport team then the mandatory reporting obligations do not apply and it would be ‘adequate for the clinician to follow the organisations reporting channels’.
Where reporting is not mandatory, anyone can report a concern to the Chief Executive of the Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services (see s 13A).
This blog is made possible with generous financial support from the Australasian College of Paramedicine, the Australian Paramedics Association (NSW), Natural Hazards Research Australia, NSW Rural Fire Service Association and the NSW SES Volunteers Association. I am responsible for the content in this post including any errors or omissions. Any opinions expressed are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or understanding of the donors.