Child Link

Using the information on Child Link to promote student wellbeing and safety

Purposes for accessing Child Link in a school

Child Link Users in schools will only have access to information on Child Link about the children enrolled in their school.

Child Link Users must only access Child Link for the purpose of providing education and care and related services to children enrolled at their school, and monitoring and planning services for children enrolled at their school.

In practice, this might include accessing Child Link to:

• support smooth transitions by gaining a more informed understanding of a new student’s circumstances and identify any additional supports that may be needed
• gather information to better support learning and development by forming a more accurate assessment of a student and their family’s circumstances
• inform responses to observed behaviour or specialist needs by accessing information about a student’s previous enrolment history and engagement with services. This will help schools better assess a student’s needs and enable a principal, school teacher, or health and welfare professional to be better informed and equipped to support the students at their school
• better enable the school to contact other services involved with the child’s family to request information (where appropriate) in exercising their duty of care.

Schools may determine that no further action is required after accessing information about a student on Child Link.

The source of the information displayed on Child Link

The information on Child Link comes from existing government source systems and is securely transmitted to the Child Link system. Child Link matches the information for that child and combines the information into a single entry. These existing source information systems are from across the Department of Education and its associated authorities, the Department of Health, and the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing Child Protection program.

Child Link is updated daily to ensure the information on Child Link is based on the most recent information received from the various source systems.

Information displayed on a child entry

The information on a child’s entry will be displayed on one page in the following sections:

1. Current child information
2. Engagement Timeline and Summary Cards
3. Relationships Timeline and Sibling Summary Cards

Child Link Users in schools will have access to a child entry for children in their school for the period that the child is enrolled, and for an additional 3 months after the enrolment ends, to assist in the child’s transition between services.

The transitioning between learning environments is a big milestone for children and their families. As moving from early years to primary school or from primary to secondary school can be emotionally challenging and sensitive in nature, schools must be mindful of their legal obligation to only share information for the purposes of promoting student engagement and wellbeing. Schools are encouraged to access the Child and Family Violence Information Sharing Schemes policy and Child Information Sharing Scheme Ministerial Guidelines for further information.

An example of a school User appropriately accessing Child Link to support key transitions could include a student wellbeing coordinator looking at a student’s entry on Child Link one month post the enrolment end-date to check whether the student has enrolled in another school and to take appropriate actions when required. This may include making a referral to a School Attendance Officer who may send a School Attendance Notice to the student’s parents if the student cannot be located at another school.

1. Current child information

The following identifying information may be available on Child Link.

Child name(s): full name and any other names by which the child is or has been previously known (provided by source systems).

Note: Child Link Users should be aware that names of children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds may appear in many different forms in a child’s entry. This may be due to how a child’s name is captured across different source systems. It is important to note that the order of names may be culturally based. For example, given names come before family names in English-speaking countries. In some cultures, family names come first.

Date of birth and age.

Place of birth: where this information is available, the place of birth will be displayed as it has been captured in the source system which is the suburb or the hospital in which the child was born, or country if born overseas.

Sex: Child Link will include the child's sex or, if it has not been disclosed, a record to that effect. Under the legislation a child’s identified gender may not be displayed. Some source systems include the child’s sex and/or the child’s gender. Child Link will display sex, or if sex is not disclosed or cannot be confirmed through the data (including an instance where the child’s sex and the child’s identified gender do not match in source systems) a record stating ‘not disclosed’.

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander: displays either ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘not disclosed’ (where a person has declined to provide this information in a source system, or it is not currently captured).

Note: a child’s identification as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander is based on the most recent information received from the source systems. It is important to note that the process or decision in which a person self-identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, or what the User knows of the child based on their own source system or interactions with the child takes precedence over what is in Child Link.

2. Engagement Timeline and Summary Cards

Enrolment and participation information in specified services and programs may also be visible on Child Link.

The service engagement information in Child Link includes:

• the name and contact details of the service
• whether the service is active or inactive
• the dates of the child’s participation in the service, such as the date of an appointment, or the date range of participation
• the age the child first attended the service
• any other relevant service type or program details.

Services and programs that may be displayed in the engagement timeline include:

Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services: consultations delivered as part of the Universal MCH program and the Enhanced MCH programs including dates and appointment information.

Supported playgroups: engagement with supported playgroups until July 2021 (does not include community-based playgroups).

Funded kindergartens: including 3 and 4 year old kindergartens, and early start kindergartens. Funded kindergartens can be located in children’s centres, long day care centres, community kindergartens, and schools.

Registered schools or home schooling: enrolments in government schools, non-government schools (independent and Catholic), and home schooling (registered with the Victorian Regulations and Qualifications Authority).

The following schools sub-type descriptions will also be displayed on Child Link:

• primary school
• secondary school
• primary/secondary school
• specialist school.

School nurse program: instances of engagement with the school nurse program will be displayed for children enrolled in both government and non-government primary schools, and government secondary schools.

Child Link will display engagement with school nursing in relation to dates of Health assessments and the School Entrant Health Questionnaire and Occasions of Service for assessment, consultation, treatment, or other service provided by a school nurse to a student. No personal health information in relation to a child and their engagement with the school nursing program will be displayed.

Student support services (provided by the department): dates of engagement with Student Support Services, but not type of support received or any other health information in relation to the child’s engagement with this service.

3. Relationship Timeline and Sibling Summary Cards

Key relationships in the child’s life may also be displayed in Child Link.

Persons with parental responsibility and/or day-to-day care of a child. Relationship information on Child Link includes persons with parental responsibility and/or day-to-day care of a child and may display the following information for each person:

• their full name and any other names by which they are or have been known
• whether they have parental responsibility and/or day-to-day care of the child
• the dates from which they have or have had parental responsibility and/or day-to-day care of the child
• their relationship to the child.

Parental responsibility in relation to the child, means all the duties, powers, responsibilities, and authority which, by law or custom, parents have in relation to children.

Day-to-day care in relation to the child, means the daily care and control of the child, whether or not involving parental responsibility for the child. If a person has care and control of a child, it means that the child would live with that person and that person will make daily decisions for the child, for example, what the child eats and when they go to bed.

Parent: parental relationship in Child Link incorporates roles that may have parental responsibility for a child and/or day-to-day care for the child, and includes which information can be recorded on Child Link in relation to a child. A parent may include:

• the parents of the child, as at the time of the child’s birth
• the spouse of the father or mother of the child
• the domestic partner of the father or mother of the child
• any person who is legally considered, or in respect of whom a court has made a declaration or a finding or order that the person is the mother, father, or parent of the child.

The parental relationships in Child Link will come from parent information included in source systems and will be displayed as parent, step-parent, or partner.
Child Link Users should be aware that the Relationships Timeline on a child entry displays the information from source systems. It is important to consider the more intricate and complex kinship systems that exist for children from other cultures, including those with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander families, as these may not be displayed.

Child’s siblings

Sibling relationships may also be displayed on Child Link – these include half-sibling/s adoptive brother/sister, and step-brother/sister of the child.

The information displayed on a child entry for siblings is the sibling’s full name, and limited ‘Child Protection Order’ information. Child Link Users in school’s will be able to access the sibling’s full child entry by clicking on the sibling’s name on the initial child’s entry and through the sibling’s Summary Card, by selecting ‘View Sibling Profile’. Where the sibling is a child, access to a sibling entry is determined in accordance with the Child Link User’s purpose of access, use and disclosure of information. A sibling’s entry will not be available where the sibling is over the age of 18 and is no longer enrolled in school, or where the sibling has died.

Types of Child Protection Orders

The types of Child Protection Orders that can be shown on Child Link are determined by legislation. The Child Protection Orders in Child Link include:

• an order made under Part 4.8a protection order
• a permanent care order.

Orders that will not be included in Child Link include Intervention Orders (such as a family violence intervention order or personal safety intervention order) and Adoption Orders.

The most relevant information on Child Link in relation to a Child Protection Order is found in the Current Information section under the child’s name, the Engagement Timeline, and the Summary Cards. Some information may also be displayed in the Relationships Timeline.

Information about Child Protection Orders

The type of the Child Protection Order will not be shown on Child Link. If schools have any queries regarding the Child Protection Orders displayed on Child Link they will need to contact Child Protection.

Information about out of home care

When a child is placed in out of home care, the Child Protection Order Summary Card for a child will show that the order placed the child in out of home care, however, there may not be a corresponding entry on the Relationships Timeline for a carer that matches the dates of the order. The type of out of home care placement cannot be displayed on Child Link. If further information is required in relation to the Child Protection Order and care arrangements for that child, schools can contact Child Protection.

Sensitivity flags in Child Link

Sensitive information flags may be attached to items in the Relationships Timeline and/or the Engagement Timeline. Extra discretion must be applied before sharing the information with this flag.

• A sensitive information flag in the Relationships Timeline applies to all individuals who have at least one carer relationship with the child. If an individual is a carer, there will be an orange 'sensitive information' triangle wrapping around the individual name.
• A sensitive information flag on the Summary Cards on the Engagement Timeline applies when the child’s location information has been flagged as sensitive in nature by Child Protection. Where Child Protection has flagged the child’s address as ‘withheld’, the service Summary Cards will be wrapped by an orange 'sensitive information' triangle.

Extra discretion must be applied before sharing the information with a sensitive information flag. For further guidance on sharing information from Child Link refer to User Practice Guidance - How to use the information on Child Link.

Missing or incorrect information in Child Link

There may be several reasons why a child and/or their information is not showing on Child Link, including:

• where a child’s information is no longer accessible on Child Link, if the child:
  • has turned 18 years old and is no longer attending a registered school or their home schooling has ceased (both events have to occur, so if a child is 18 or over and still attending schooling their entry will remain accessible on Child Link)
  • is no longer engaged with your school (this includes where the child is enrolled in your school or service, but this has not been updated in CASES21 and Child Link)
  • has died
• the child’s information may be restricted due to wellbeing or safety concerns.

Where an entry for a child is not complete, this could also be due to:

• the information not being available in any source system for the child
• inconsistent data in the source systems to combine the information for the child
• technical or integration issues from the source system into Child Link.

If a User in a school identifies information on Child Link which is incorrect, they can amend the information in their enrolment systems. The amended information in the source system will be extracted by Child Link and, as a result, corrected on Child Link during the next daily update.

Schools can also contact the Child Link team on 1800 549 646 in relation to specific enquiries regarding the accuracy of the information on child entries.

Schools must not send identifiable information about a student, for example, name, age and service engagement, via email to the Help Desk.

Cultural safety considerations for Child Link

For Child Link Users, awareness of cultural safety is embedded and expected in professional practice.

When using Child Link to promote student wellbeing and safety, schools:

• must continue to follow existing departmental policies and guidance for creating culturally safe environments. Establishing a culturally safe environment in which the diverse and unique identities and experiences of Aboriginal children and young people are respected and valued is expected as part of the Child Safe Standards. Further information can be found at Schools – culturally safe environments guidance
• should use Child Link in a way that recognises the unique circumstances of each child and considers cultural safety when viewing a student’s entry and taking any action as a result of the information displayed. For instance, working in partnership with the local Koorie community to develop place-based approaches to improving outcomes and individualised learning for students, creating high expectations, and including acknowledging, respecting and valuing Koorie cultures and identities. Further information can be found at: Koorie Education
• should be aware that the process or decision in which a person self-identifies as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander takes precedence over what information is in Child Link.

Schools can obtain assistance from DE’s Koorie Education Coordinators (who are also authorised Child Link Users) with Koorie cultural inclusion, Koorie education guidance and support through their region by contacting the KEC with enquiries.

For more information on cultural safety considerations when using 'Child Link see the User Practice Guidance – How to use the information on Child Link' which is accessible to all Child Link Users on the help section on Child Link.

Cultural safety is a fundamental human right and affects all in the community.