Staff who use CISS and FVISS

Overview of the Child Information Sharing Scheme (CISS)

The Child Information Sharing Scheme (CISS) allows authorised organisations to share information to support child wellbeing or safety, to ensure that professionals can gain a complete view of the children and young people they work with, making it easier to identify wellbeing or safety needs earlier, and to act on them sooner.

The Child Information Sharing Scheme Ministerial Guidelines detail the legal obligations of prescribed Information Sharing Entities (ISEs). Additional resources are available at Information sharing and MARAM reforms.

Overview of Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme (FVISS)

The Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme supports effective sharing of information to assess and manage family violence risk, through keeping perpetrators in view and accountable and promoting the safety of victim survivors of family violence.

For more comprehensive information, see the Family Violence Information Sharing Guidelines available from Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme.

Risk Assessment Entities

Under FVISS, there is a subset of specialist ISEs known as Risk Assessment Entities (RAEs) that can request and receive information for a family violence assessment purpose. Only RAEs can request information for a family violence assessment purpose.

RAEs have specialised skills and authorisation to conduct family violence risk assessment. Examples of RAEs include:

• Victoria Police
• Child Protection
• family violence services
• the Orange Door.

Sharing for family violence risk assessment

One way in which you will be able to identify and respond to family violence is by making referrals for specialist services or professionals to complete a comprehensive family violence risk assessment. Some of these specialist services are prescribed as RAEs, such as family violence services, Child Protection and Victoria Police.

Under FVISS, ISEs such as school and service workforces can proactively share risk-relevant information with RAEs for risk assessment purposes. That is, in order to:

1. confirm whether family violence is occurring
2. enable RAEs to assess the level of risk the perpetrator poses to the victim survivor
3. correctly identify the perpetrator of family violence and victim survivors (see section 11.3 of the MARAM Foundation Knowledge Guide for more information about misidentifying the predominant aggressor)
4. respond to a request made by an RAE for information from your school or service.

Family violence risk assessment is an ongoing process, and assessment is required at different points in time from different service perspectives. Nominated staff have a role in working collaboratively with other services to contribute to ongoing risk assessment and management.

Sharing for family violence risk management

School and early childhood workforces can proactively share information with and request information from other ISEs, including RAEs,
if sharing is necessary to:

• remove, reduce or prevent family violence risk
• understand how risk is changing over time
• inform ongoing risk assessment and management through:
  • secondary consultation with, or referrals to, specialist services
  • developing and implementing safety plans
  • managing changing risk levels over time by collaborating with other services for ongoing risk assessment and management.

Responding to external requests for MARAM and information sharing records

There are many laws in Victoria governing the security of records that you create for a child or young person at your school or service. These laws have in-built protection mechanisms that prioritise the safety of victim survivors whenever there is an application seeking the release of their information. For example, the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) has exemptions that may prevent information being released to certain alleged or confirmed perpetrators, to protect victim survivors and to ensure relevant documents are not shared with perpetrators or alleged perpetrators.

There may be a time where your school or service receives a request for information to be released externally, for example from a parent by way of Freedom of Information or subpoena during legal proceedings. These applications may include seeking access to MARAM tools and information sharing requests.

Schools and services must respond to requests for information. The department’s Requests for Information about Students Policy provides advice to government schools on how to manage requests for documents, including when to release documents directly and when to advise the person to make a FOI request to the department’s FOI Unit. This policy is consistent with Victorian privacy and information sharing law. Services and non-government schools should refer to their organisation’s policies in relation to requests for information (including FOI requests).

Consent and seeking the views and wishes of children and relevant family members

Consent under CISS

Under CISS, you can share any person’s information without their consent to promote the wellbeing or safety of a child or group of children. However, you should seek the views and wishes of the child and/or family members before sharing their information where it is safe, reasonable and appropriate to do so.

Sharing information to promote the wellbeing or safety of a student over the age of 18 would need to take place under other laws. Their consent may or may not be required depending on the privacy laws that apply.

Consent under FVISS

FVISS covers victim survivors of all ages. Consent is not required from any person to share information relevant to assessing or managing family violence risk to a child, young person and/or adult victim survivor. However, you should seek the views of the child, young person and/or adult victim survivor or a family member who is not a perpetrator where it is safe, reasonable and appropriate to do so.

Where a student over the age of 18 is experiencing family violence, and no child is at risk, consent is required from the student and any third parties to share their information unless sharing is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to an individual’s life, health, safety or welfare.

In situations where an adolescent is using family violence against an adult family member, you should seek consent of the adult victim survivor and any third parties to share their information unless there is a serious threat or the information relates to assessing or managing a risk to a child.

For further information about consent, please see the Family Violence Information Sharing Guidelines and the Child Information Sharing Scheme Ministerial Guidelines.

Seeking and taking into account the views of the child and family members

Even when consent is not required, you should seek and take into account the views of the child, young person and/or any relevant family members who do not pose a risk before sharing information under CISS or FVISS if it is safe, reasonable and appropriate to do so. This is a key principle of CISS and FVISS.

There are several reasons to seek and consider the views of a child, young person or family member before sharing their information:

• working collaboratively helps develop and maintain trusting, positive relationships with the child, young person and their family, and improve and maintain service engagement
• people feel more empowered when they are included in the process and aware of and in agreement with the actions taking place
• obtaining the views of the children, including a child victim survivor, is an integral part of assessing and managing risk to the child and other family members
• children and families are often best placed to provide insight into safer, more effective ways of sharing information.

You should also inform the child or parent that their information has been shared, unless it would be unsafe, unreasonable or inappropriate to do so. Keeping them informed is best practice and helps to promote positive engagement.

The child or parent must also be supported with safety planning and other necessary services.

When seeking the views and wishes of the child, young person and their family, the discussion should explain:

• the requirements that need to be met before information can be shared
• who information can be shared with
• their consent is not required for you to share information if you believe that sharing would promote the wellbeing or safety of a child
• the benefits of information sharing, and how information may be used to promote child wellbeing or safety.

It is important to support and encourage the expression of any concerns, doubts or anxieties. You should respond sensitively, with due consideration of the circumstances children and families may be facing.

Discussing these concerns may help to inform the assessment of any risks to children’s wellbeing and safety and help to avoid unintended outcomes of information sharing. You should be aware of your own preconceptions and biases when engaging with children and families navigating barriers to wellbeing and safety.

For example, you should promote cultural safety, and demonstrate awareness of the accumulation of trauma across generations of Aboriginal communities as a result of colonisation and the dispossession of land and children.

The department has developed resources to help schools, services and other organisations discuss the child information sharing scheme with families and communities, including resources for Aboriginal families. You can view them at Child Information Sharing Scheme.

Other factors to consider when sharing information under CISS

When sharing information to promote child wellbeing and safety, you should:

• consider the child’s best interests
• promote the immediate and ongoing safety of all family members at risk of family violence in line with MARAM, noting safety includes responding to needs and circumstances that promote stabilisation and recovery from family violence
• engage specialist services as required, and promote collaborative practice around children and families
• give precedence to the wellbeing and safety of a child or group of children over the right to privacy
• preserve and promote positive relationships between a child and the child’s family members and persons of significance to the child
• be respectful of and have regard to a child’s social, individual and cultural identity, the child’s strengths and abilities and any vulnerability relevant to the child’s safety and wellbeing
• promote the cultural safety and recognise the cultural rights and familial and community connections of children who are Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or both
• seek to maintain constructive and respectful engagement with children and their families.

Working with diverse communities and at-risk groups to support wellbeing and safety

You need to consider the barriers to wellbeing and safety that some groups experience due to structural inequality and discrimination. Diverse communities and ‘at-risk groups’ are broadly defined to include:

• diverse cultural, linguistic and faith communities (also collectively called CALD communities)
• people living with a disability
• people experiencing mental health issues
• lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex, queer and questioning (LGBTIQA+) people
• women in or exiting prison
• people who work in the sex industry
• people living in regional, remote and rural communities
• older people (aged 65 years, or 45 years for Aboriginal people)
• children (0–4 years of age are most at risk)
• young people (12–25 years of age).

It will be helpful for you to consider both the individual circumstances of the child and parent or carer, and their specific family and community contexts. This will improve your ability to engage with children and families.

When sharing information about people with disabilities, you should consider:

• asking what supports they need to ensure they understand the information you provide and can respond with an informed opinion. Avoid making assumptions about what supports they may require
• asking if they would like to seek the support of a trusted person or advocate to ensure they understand the reason for information sharing.

When sharing information about CALD communities, including refugees, you should consider:

• there may be language and literacy considerations. This requires sensitivity around ways of communication. For example, you may need an interpreter
• there may be complex family and community dynamics to consider, as well as complex migration experiences
• when sharing information about people from a refugee background, there is often an added layer of trauma.

When sharing information about LGBTIQA+ communities, you should consider:

• the impact sharing information about sexuality, sex or gender identity may have on safety in the family or community
• that services may discriminate against, further abuse, or exclude individuals because of sexuality, or gender identity
• that sexuality, sex and gender identity may not be recognised by services, or that individuals’ needs will not be understood
• that homophobia, biphobia or transphobia by family members is recognised as family violence.

For more information, see the MARAM Foundation Knowledge Guide.

Complaints

If you are concerned that information might have been shared in a way that is not permitted, you have the right to provide feedback and make a complaint.

To make a complaint in the first instance, speak to the organisation who shared the information. All organisations should have procedures in place for dealing with complaints.

If you are not satisfied that the matter has been resolved, a complaint may be made to:

• The Office of the Victorian Information Commission (OVIC) if the complaint relates to personal information or the Health Complaints Commissioner (HCC) if the complaint relates to health information under Victorian Law
• The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) under Commonwealth Law.

Tools for staff who use CISS and FVISS

View interactive tools and templates to help education workforces implement the information sharing schemes at Tools for staff who use CISS and FVISS.

This includes examples of information sharing in school and service settings, decision trees and downloadable Word templates to help you:

• better understand how to use CISS and FVISS
• keep accurate records
• request information
• share information
• decline requests
• record complaints.