Family Violence Support

9. Record keeping

School staff must follow all data security and record management requirements that apply to their school.

For more information, refer to: Records Management – School Records.

Schools staff must keep appropriate records relating to family violence referrals, information sharing and coordinated risk management. This may include:

• the services they collaborate with
• information shared and received from other services
• records of consent or views to information sharing and referrals
• actions required of the school (for example, using the screening tool and basic safety plan)
• the child and family being informed of any updates.

Due to the nature of family violence records, school staff must ensure that records are kept securely by taking the following actions:

• keeping hard copies of documents and tools in a locked cabinet
• keeping electronic records password protected with only staff members who need the information having access
• ensuring only school leaders and MARAM nominated staff have access to completed Family violence screening tools and Family violence basic safety plans
• ensuring that records are not destroyed as they may be needed at a later time (for example, as evidence in future court proceedings).

If school staff share information under the Child and Family Violence Information Sharing Schemes, they should use the Record keeping template for staff who use CISS and FVISS to ensure they follow the record keeping requirements of those schemes.

For more information, refer to: Child and Family Violence Information Sharing Schemes.