Definition
The Child Protection and Support Services National Minimum Data Set (CPSS NDMS), is designed to capture information on all children and young people involved in the child protection systems throughout Australia. There are three collections within the CPSS NMDS, all of which are unit record data. The first is the child protection specific data, which includes contacts, notifications, substantiations and services provided. The second is data on children who are on care and protection orders. The third is data on children in out-of-home care.
Child protection contacts, notifications and substantiation data collection.
All contacts made to the child protection authorities during the collection period should be included. Also, any contact that was made during a previous reporting period that was finalised in the collection period should also be included.
A contact is where the community services department receives, records and assesses initial information about a concern regarding maltreatment and/or welfare of a child. This includes contacts made by persons or other bodies where there are concerns about a child. They can include allegations of child abuse or neglect, maltreatment or harm or risk of harm to a child. They may also include broader concerns about the health and well-being of a child. Contacts do not include brief calls where the department can be of no assistance, for example if the caller has a concern about a child’s educational attainment, this would most likely be redirected to the education department, and should not be recorded as a contact. Contacts are relevant to persons who are aged 0–17 years, and to unborn children in jurisdictions where they are covered under the child protection legislation.
Metadata items in this Data Set Specification
Below is a list of all the components within this Dataset Specification.
Each entry includes the item name, whether the item is optional, mandatory or conditional and the maximum times the item can occur in a dataset.
If the items must occur in a particular order in the dataset, the sequence number is included before the item name.
| Reference | Data Element | Data Type | Length | Inclusion | # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Child protection notification—assessment decision date, DDMMYYYY | Date/Time | 8 | optional | 1 | |
| Child protection notification—assessment decision type, code N | - | - | optional | 1 | |
| Child protection notification—care and protection order flag, code N | Number | 1 | conditional | 1 | |
| Child protection notification—contact date, DDMMYYYY | Date/Time | 8 | optional | 1 | |
| Child protection notification—employment service type, code N[N] | Number | 2 | optional | 1 | |
| Child protection notification—investigation commencement date, DDMMYYYY | Date/Time | 8 | optional | 1 | |
| Child protection notification—investigation conclusion date, DDMMYYYY | Date/Time | 8 | optional | 1 | |
| Child protection notification—out-of-home care flag, code N | Number | 1 | optional | 1 | |
| Child protection notification—relationship to child of source of notification, code N[N] | - | - | optional | 1 | |
| Child protection notification—unborn child status, code N | Number | 1 | mandatory | 1 | |
|
Child—abuse and neglect type, code N
Specific Information:
In the Child Protection NMDS, this data element can be collected twice:
Where more than one type of abuse or neglect has occurred, the primary type of abuse should be the most serious type of harm, as determined by the investigating officer. The secondary type of abuse or neglect should also be used where there is more than one abuse type recorded. The second most serious abuse type, as determined by the investigatory officer, should be provided. |
Number | 1 | optional | 1 | |
|
Person (address)—Australian postcode, code (Postcode datafile) {NNNN}
Conditional Inclusion:
In the Child Protection NMDS, this data element is collected a minimum of three times:
|
- | - | optional | 1 | |
|
Person (address)—suburb/town/locality name, text A[A(49)]
Specific Information:
In the Child Protection NMDS, this data element is collected a minimum of three times:
|
- | - | optional | 99 | |
|
Person—person identifier, (child protection and support services) NX[X(13)]
Specific Information:
This data element is implemented three times in the Child Protection NMDS. It is collected for the following three items:
The unique client identifier should be assigned by the state or territory community services department when the child first comes in contact with the department. The child should retain the same unique identifier across time. This data element should be recorded for each child for each contact, care and protection order and out-of-home care episode. Any sibling of the child subject to the contact should be identified. This code should be used in conjunction with ‘Unique client identification number’ to ensure consistency of identification numbers. Each caseworker is to be assigned a unique ID by the Community Services department that will be retained by the caseworker and will remain unique to the caseworker through time. Within each state and territory, each caseworker should be identified by a code using consistent format. The identifier should be assigned by the state or territory community services department when the caseworker is first employed in this role. The caseworker should retain the same unique identifier across time. |
- | - | conditional | 1 | |
| Service event—assistance type, child protection code N | Number | 1 | optional | 1 |
Comments
Child protection and support services data dictionary. AIHW Version 1.0 Oct 2005.
References
This content Based on Australian Institute of Health and Welfare material. Attribution provided as required under the AIHW CC-BY licence.
Related content
| Relation | Count |
|---|---|
| As a numerator in an Indicator | 0 |
| As a denominator in an Indicator | 0 |
| As a disaggregation in an Indicator | 0 |