Report child abuse or neglect

Check what to do before you report child abuse or neglect, find other ways to help a family, and learn how we assess if it's child abuse.

Call the police on 000

Before you report abuse or neglect

1. Consider how your own culture or upbringing may lead you to make an assumption about the child.
2. Check Keeping Children and Young People Safe [PDF 876KB] to learn about:
   • the signs of child abuse
   • what to do if a child tells you they have been abused.
3. Talk to the child if you can. You could have a gentle conversation with them to let them know you are worried there may be something wrong.
4. Speak with the parents if you can. Depending on the situation, this may be the best first step. You may be able to help them yourself or connect them with support services that specialise in working with parents and their children.

If you have talked to the parents and believe abuse or neglect may be happening, you should report it.

Your conversations with the parents and the child can be included with the information you give to CYPS.

Types of abuse and neglect

Child abuse includes:

• physical abuse, for example hitting, shaking, burning, excessive physical discipline, attempted suffocation, throwing against the wall or to the ground
• sexual abuse, for example comments, physical contact of a sexual nature, exposure or involvement in adult sexual activity or pornography, grooming, inappropriate sexual comments
• emotional abuse, for example constant yelling, belittling, ignoring, ridiculing, swearing, name calling, withholding affection
• family violence, for example hearing or seeing violence, seeing injuries and property damage
• neglect, for example when a parent or carer does not provide the child with basic needs causing significant harm to the child’s wellbeing or development.

If you are unsure what you are seeing is abuse or neglect, contact CYPS to talk about your concerns.

Report child abuse

If the abuse or neglect is by a child’s family member or guardian:

You can also contact Child and Youth Protection Services:

• call 1300 556 729
• email childprotection@act.gov.au

If you're a mandated reporter

Mandated reporters can report online or contact Child and Youth Protection Services:

• call 1300 556 728
• email childprotection@act.gov.au

If the abuse is by someone outside the family

Call ACT Policing on 131 444.

What to include when you report

You should include what you know about:

• the child’s name, age, background, home address
• their family, including parents, brothers and sisters and other people living in the home
• the reason for your concern – including what happened and where, who’s involved, what led to the incident, any visible injuries, the effect on the child, who you believe to be responsible
• relevant circumstances – such as drug or alcohol misuse, mental health, financial issues, past trauma, unemployment, court matters
• your details and connection to the child – so we can contact you if we need more information.

You must not give false or misleading information on purpose. This is an offence and you can get a fine or go to prison.

What not to report

Child and Youth Protection Services is unlikely to investigate:

• normal sexualised child play including teenagers engaging in sexual activity with each other
• a child who is self-harming when there are parents willing and able to protect them
• children who have been fighting in the playground
• children who are upset because their parents are getting divorced
• a child who is given the same lunch every day at school.

When we get your report

We will check if the report meets the legal criteria of abuse and neglect.

If there is reasonable suspicion of abuse or neglect, we will:

• check information we have about the parents
• contact other people about their experience and opinion of the parents, for example schools, doctors and you.

After this assessment we will decide if:

• we need a more detailed assessment of the child’s situation.
• the child’s parents are willing and able to protect the child from harm
• the family needs support services
• no further action is needed.

How we assess child abuse and neglect: the appraisal

An appraisal helps us find out what help the child and family needs. We will make important decisions with the child, family and other agencies.

During an appraisal, we will

• visit the child’s home (or school if the interview needs to be private)
• look at the child’s circumstances
• interview the child, their siblings, parents and other important people in the child’s life
• share relevant information with other agencies where appropriate.

We may apply to the ACT Childrens Court for Care and Protection Orders if we feel we need this to keep a child safe.

Supporting the child and family

We may offer support if we decide the child is not at risk of abuse or neglect, but the child or family would benefit from some form of help. This may include:

• support from us with a specific issue, such as a housing or parenting problem
• referrals to a support program run by another agency.

Families do not have to accept the support.

Closing the report

We will close the report and take no further action if we decide:

• the child is not at risk of abuse or neglect
• the child and family have no specific issues that need support.

Telling you about the outcome

We will not tell you about the outcome unless:

• you work with the family – we may contact you as part of our follow-up process.
• you are a mandated reporter – we may send you a letter about our assessment.

Other ways you can help

You may be able to help a family by connecting them with a free support service.

Help to find the right support

OneLink can give you advice about the types of support available and how to access them including:

• child, youth and family services
• tenancy support
• support for people who are homeless
• legal services
• financial counselling
• mental health services

Support for families and children

Canberra's Child and Family Centres support children and families. Parents can talk with trained professionals about many issues, including:

• free parenting advice
• adjusting to being a parent
• family relationship issues
• child behaviour.

Contact us

You can contact us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you have made a report outside of business hours, you will not hear back for a few days unless it is a crisis.