Reporting Laws and Requirements - VIC

Are You a Mandated Reporter?
Notes:

­

In Victoria the following people under Section 182 of the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 are mandatory reporters.

These include: 

  • Doctors,
  • Midwives,
  • Nurses,
  • Teachers (including kindergarten teachers),
  • Out of home workers (excluding Voluntary foster and kinship carers) as of 1 March 2019
  • Early Childhood Workers as of 1 March 2019
  • Youth Justice Workers as of 1 March 2019
  • registered psychologists as of 1 March 2019
  • school counsellors as of 31 January 2020
  • police

You ARE a mandated reporter.

Mandatory reporting to child protection in Victoria- Commencing 2019

 

Information:

­

As of 1st of March 2019 Early Childhood workers are mandatory reporters.

This means that if you form the belief on reasonable grounds that a child is in need of protection on a grounds referred to in the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 - Section 162, you must report that belief and the reasonable grounds for it as soon as practicable-

        (a)     after forming the belief; and

        (b)     after each occasion on which he or she becomes aware of any further reasonable grounds for the belief.

Grounds referred to in section 162 are -

  • the child has been abandoned by his or her parents and after reasonable inquiries

(i) the parents cannot be found; and

 (ii) no other suitable person can be found who is willing and able to care for the child;

  • the child's parents are dead or incapacitated and there is no other suitable person willing and able to care for the child;
  • the child has suffered, or is likely to suffer:
    • significant harm as a result of physical injury
    • significant harm as a result of sexual abuse
    • emotional or psychological harm of such a kind that the child's emotional or intellectual development is, or is likely to be, significantly damaged
    • the child's physical development or health has been, or is likely to be, significantly harmed and the child's parents have not protected, or are unlikely to protect, the child from harm of that type.

Mandatory reporting to child protection in Victoria - Commencing 2019