Number of children and young people involved in Risk of Significant Harm (ROSH) reports

The Operational Business Review reports monthly.  

The Annual Statistical Report reports annually.

Published by the NSW Department of Family and Community Services.

This indicator allows monitoring the demand for child protection investigations, including making resource decisions.

Alignment: This aligns with national reporting in Report on Government Services (RoGS). 

Data ageing:

• Data ageing is two months, unless otherwise indicated. Therefore, the data for this indicator will be available two months after the end of the month in which the data first becomes available.

Data/counting rules changes:

• ‘Other’ in the ‘Other/NA’ reporting category for response priorities include reports marked as ‘no response required’ and those with the required information left blank. ‘NA’ (Not Applicable) relates to ROSH reports where additional children were recorded at the time of the field assessment. The data reported for “Other/NA’ in 2019-20 is not directly comparable to that reported in the previous years, because: the large number of ROSH reports with blank final response priority reported for 2019-20 were attributed to the Streamlined Response Pilot in Northern NSW District, where the Response Priority Tool was no longer being used to determine the response priority. ‘Not Applicable (N/A)’ mainly relates to ROSH reports where additional children were recorded at the time of the field assessment.
• ‘Prenatal reports’ are reported under ‘Carer: other issues’ prior to 2012-13. 'Other issues' includes ROSH reports where additional children were recorded at the time of field assessment; hence, Helpline assessed issue is not applicable.
• The data for non-Aboriginal children and young people also includes children and young people with Aboriginality status "not stated".
• Prior to December 2023, the district reflects where a child or young person’s case plan is held at their first ROSH report in the reporting period. Since December 2023, if a child is reported at ROSH multiple times in the reporting period, the first ROSH report taken is based on their first safety or alternate assessment submission date (the first time they were seen by a caseworker). If they were not seen by a caseworker in the reporting period, their first ROSH report based on the contact start date (when the report was made) is chosen.
• The Hunter New England District was split into Hunter District and New England District from 2018-19. This means that no data will be displayed for Hunter District or for New England District before 2018-19 and no data will be displayed for Hunter New England District after 2017-18.
• Statewide Services also includes 'not entered', in most cases where reports don't require a field response after an assessment/screening is undertaken at the DCJ Child Protection Helpline.
• The ‘Other’ reported in the DCJ District breakdown refers to reports which could not be classified under Statewide Services or a DCJ District or reports from the former Hunter New England District which cannot be split into the new districts.

Data limitations:

• Nil.

Data source:

• Key Information and Directory System (KiDS)/Client Information Warehouse (CIW) for annual data up to 2016-17
• ChildStory /Client Information Warehouse (CIW) for annual data from 2017-18.

Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998