The following principles apply to the Centres and the Advice Line.
Access
Staff should be actively committed to ensuring that clients are provided with the fullest possible access to screening and assessment services irrespective of differences arising from: race, creed, language or ethnic background; gender; disability; age; locality; socio-economic disadvantage; sexual preference; or any other unjustifiable basis, and irrespective of whether the service is provided face to face or over the telephone.
Cultural sensitivity
Staff must take account of and be sensitive to the cultural backgrounds of clients in screening and assessment.
Impartiality
Staff should refrain from imposing their personal values, views and preferences on clients.
Privacy and confidentiality
Staff should ensure that information obtained from clients during screening and assessment is treated under the legal provisions for privacy and confidentiality, and that clients understand from the beginning:
- the type and purpose of client information that is maintained and used in the Centre/Advice Line and in any data provided to other organisations, and
- the circumstances under which the confidentiality of client data may not be maintained.
Professional obligations and duty of care
Staff must comply with a range of legal, professional and ethical obligations in their dealings with clients. The legal obligations staff must comply with are imposed by common law and statute law and these obligations can vary according to the position staff hold in their organisation (for example requirements in relation to the mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse can be different for different occupations). Both staff, and the organisation they work for, must exercise a legal duty of care towards persons affected by their activities and actions. These requirements are in addition to any duties arising under professional and ethical obligations in relation to information obtained through screening and assessment. Staff must meet privacy and confidentiality requirements subject to any legislation that authorises disclosure. The
Family Law Act 1975 requires that communications made in family counselling or family dispute resolution be confidential unless disclosure is required or authorised by the law of the Commonwealth, State or Territory (such as the mandatory disclosure of child abuse).
For example, under the
Family Law Act 1975 if a family counsellor or family dispute resolution practitioner has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a child has been abused, or is at risk of abuse, he or she must notify a child welfare authority of the suspicion and the basis of that suspicion. A family counsellor or family dispute resolution practitioner may also notify a child welfare authority if he or she has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a child:
- has been ill treated, or is at risk of being ill-treated, or
- has been exposed to subject, or is at risk of being exposed or subjected, to behaviour which psychologically harms the child
Staff may need to take appropriate action (such as making a report to an appropriate agency) regarding other situations of danger, or risks of harm, that become apparent during screening and assessment. In addition to the mandatory reporting requirements in relation to the child abuse, the
Family Law Act 1975 also provides that family counsellors and family dispute resolution practitioners may disclose communications if consent is given by the person making the disclosure, or if the practitioner reasonably believes that the disclosure is necessary for the purpose of:
- protecting a child from harm (whether physical or psychological)
- preventing or lessening a serious and imminent threat to the life and health of a person
- reporting the commission or preventing the likely commission of an offence involving violence to a person
- preventing or lessening a serious and imminent threat to the property of a person, or
- reporting the commission, or preventing the likely commission of an offence involving intentional damage to property.
These risks may involve the client themselves such as suicide threats, threats of serious damage to self and self mutilation. Staff must ensure that an appropriate safety plan is put in place and acted upon to address safety issues identified through screening and assessment.
[
top ]
Type and level of screening and assessment
Screening and assessment should be commensurate with the needs of the client and the type of service that may be requested or required.
Competency and training and development
All staff conducting screening and assessment should have access to training and development opportunities to ensure they are competent to conduct screening and assessment.
Supervision
All staff conducting screening and assessment must receive regular professional supervision to ensure they are applying practice principles and to address other practice issues. The supervision should be:
- provided by a suitably qualified and experienced supervisor;
- conducted individually or where appropriate in a supervisor facilitated group, or where specialists or professionals are suitably experienced, in a peer group; and
- based on individual needs for supervision.
Supervisors should be alert to the need for individual staff to receive debriefing, coaching, advice and other assistance when required and ensure that they receive it in a timely way.
Conditions for screening and assessment
Screening and assessment processes should:
- be conducted in an environment that allows the greatest degree of privacy possible
- be carried out in a safe, supportive environment
- be conducted in a manner that regards all clients with dignity and respect
- be provided in a way that enables a response to urgent requests for assistance
- attend to cultural and language requirements
- minimise the need for clients to re-tell their story
- always provide for in-person screening before joint sessions are held
- provide for the screening of each party separately, preferably scheduled at different times or locations
- not involve interviewing one party directly after the other
- not involve parties arriving and leaving the Centre, nearby public transport stops or car parks when there is a likelihood they will do so at the same time
- not involve parties waiting in a room together before or after a screening interview
- avoid having a screening session interrupted, and
- ensure relevant information is provided about the purpose of screening and assessment, why certain information is required and how it will be used.
[
top ]
Building rapport
Staff should take time at all points of contact with a client to establish rapport before questioning for screening and assessment purposes. Questions and comments should be tailored and paced to take account of the state of mind and of the emotional state of the client at any point in time.
Listening to what clients say
Screening and assessment instruments should not be used as a substitute for listening to what clients have to say about their assessment of risk.
Child-centred practice
The needs of children should be clearly identified so that their parents can be encouraged to focus primarily on these in the decisions they make about parenting, including in any parenting plans.
Where possible, children should be encouraged to participate in processes which affect them, either directly or through others who have the skills and experience to work with them. Opportunities for children’s participation should take into account their age, and cognitive and social development. Children should never be required to participate against their wishes.
Wellbeing as an objective of assessing needs and strengths
Assessment of needs and strengths should be used as a means to assist clients to improve their wellbeing, the wellbeing of their children and of others who are significant in their lives.
Assessment should include identification of the client’s personal strengths and other resources as well as the support and resources available to them from their social network which can be called upon to build their capacity to deal with the emotional and practical needs of their children as well as their own needs.
Prevention as the objective of screening for safety
The principal purpose for screening for safety is prevention of harm to clients, children, and others, including staff.
Encouraging disclosure for identifying risk
Staff should be aware that clients may not disclose safety issues other than through skilled questioning. This is particularly important in relation to clients who do not recognise the existence or degree of risk in their own cases. Staff need to create a relationship with the client that assists the client to recognise risk and to disclose.
[
top ]
Planning for safety
The screening process should always be linked to the provision for a timely development of and execution of a safety plan in the event that risk is identified. Where there is immediate danger, there must be immediate action to ensure safety.
Using questions
Questioning in screening and assessment should be flexible and used in conjunction with professional judgement.
Questions should proceed from open and broad to more specific and direct.
Screening and assessment instruments not to be used in isolation
Instruments designed to screen for or predict risk can sometimes distract from broader safety issues for family members and should never be used as the sole basis for planning. There is a need for such instruments to be used sensitively and intuitively in conjunction with other information.
Screening and assessment as ongoing processes
While screening should be done as soon as possible at the first point of contact, it should continue to be done, if not formally then ‘in the background’, at each point of contact with the client when there is the possibility that circumstances might have changed so that the type or level of risk or need may have altered.
Staff should also assess for ‘needs’ as well as for ‘risks to safety’ at every point on the service continuum.
Screening and assessment used for action, not exclusion
The use of screening and assessment is based on the assumption that they will lead to action being taken to address risk or need, not to exclude clients from services that ought to be provided.
Linking with other services
In order to take the action that screening and assessment identifies as being beneficial to clients, staff need to have strong collaborative relationships with other providers and relevant groups. The nature of these relationships will vary according to the service delivery environment ie face to face or via telephone, national or local.
Staff should take care to identify clients living in areas with limited services and clients who are reluctant to approach mainstream services. Such clients may also obtain valuable assistance by using advice and counselling services available by telephone or other electronic media such as videoconferencing. They should be encouraged to obtain assistance and support from trusted individuals available to them from within their social networks where mainstream services are not accessible or the client is reluctant to use them.
Any sharing of client information with other services needs to be guided by the relevant policies, procedures and/or protocols.