Roles of agencies

Role of SAPOL (Family Safety Meeting Chair)

Within each region, the SAPOL representative is responsible for the management of referrals, coordination and chairing of the Family Safety Meeting (FSM). Where possible, this role of Chair is to be filled by the Officer in Charge, Child and Family Investigation Sections in metropolitan districts.

In country regions, the responsibility rests with the Officer in Charge of the local Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) or their delegate, which is generally the Family Violence Intervention Officer.

All referrals are submitted through the Portal to the relevant SAPOL representative or Chair.

Receiving and processing referrals

• The Chair receives notification of new referrals by secure email sent through the Family Safety Portal.
• On receipt of a new referral, the Chair or responsible SAPOL Officer is responsible for considering the referral and determining a course of action:
1. accepting the referral onto the FSM (which will generate an email to the referrer informing them of this)
2. transferring the referral to the appropriate FSM region
3. requesting further information from the referrer
4. rejecting the referral. A rationale for the rejection must be included in an email notification to the referrer.

Assessing Referrals

• This assessment is to ensure that a referral to the Family Safety Framework for a person at risk is appropriate, in that the person is:
• experiencing domestic, family or sexual violence which is assessed as high risk and where the risk of serious harm is ongoing and/or escalating and judged as likely to occur soon, and
• where additional collaborative and informed responses (through the work done at the Family Safety Meeting) is required to mitigate and reduce risk and harm.

Where a referral is not accepted

• A referral may not meet the required threshold for a number of reasons. Considerations for non-progression of a referral onto a Family Safety Meeting (FSM) may include:
• Several agencies are known to be currently involved and are providing protection against further harm which has served to significantly reduce risk.
• That the Domestic Violence Risk Assessment (DVRA) has been incorrectly completed.
• Where a referral is not accepted on to the FSM agenda, a rationale must be provided to the referrer indicating why (this will be included in the return email generated by the Portal). This is critical as the referrer will then remain responsible for managing the identified risk without the information sharing and support of a multi-agency response. The rationale regarding the non-acceptance of the referral will contribute to that referrer developing safety mitigation plans in the community.

If the referrer wishes to discuss the decision

• If the referrer wishes to discuss the decision not to include the referral as high risk, the referrer should contact the relevant FSM Chair. If a referrer is unsure of who the FSM Chair is for the relevant region, they can email the relevant SAPOL Child and family Investigation Section or DHSFamilySafetyPortal@sa.gov.au.
• Should there still be uncertainty about the status of the referral, the relevant SAPOL Chair will instruct the referrer to upload the referral as a new referral to the region through the Portal and will accept the referral onto the meeting for the Family Safety Meeting representatives to decide whether the case meets the threshold for an FSM. In comments when accepting the referral, the SAPOL officer should note that acceptance and management of the referral needs to be decided by FSM representatives.

In the Family Safety Meeting

• Chair the FSM according to the run sheet.
• Approve any proposed actions agreed to by the FSM representatives.
• Add and approve actions agreed to by the FSM representatives to another agency if that agency does not have a representative at that meeting.
• Review actions agreed at the last FSM and make note of any outstanding actions.
• Summarise actions at the end of each case discussion and ensure that all agencies are clear on new actions agreed upon for follow up.
• Review each case on the FSM and seek agreement from the representatives at that meeting to determine if the case should continue on the FSM or if it should be closed (removed from the FSM).
• Following agreement from FSM representatives, close any cases and document the reasons for closure.
• Complete and forward any completed Court Information Forms (CIF) to the relevant Prosecution Section for inclusion with a prosecution file for a person at risk. CIFs should be completed if a Family Safety Meeting identifies specific safety concerns which should be brought to the attention of a presiding magistrate.
• Notify FSM representatives when the meeting record will be closed to ensure that all FSM representatives have updated all relevant case notes and action details including adding any new actions agreed on at the meeting.
• Record any other business including details of attendance at the FSM by students or other authorised visitors.
• Close the meeting. This will then generate a meeting report that can be downloaded by all FSM representatives from the Portal.

Role of Office for Women (Administration)

The Department of Human Services (DHS) Office for Women are both the administrators of the Family Safety Meetings and the policy holders of the Family Safety Framework. Their administrative responsibilities include:

General Operations

• Ensuring that the Family Safety Portal is fully operational and functional for the effective administration of the FSMs.
• Provide training, support, and instructional materials on how to use the portal for FSM representatives, proxies, and Chairs.
• Facilitate technical support for the portal.
• Support the FSMs to continue to operate if there are any technical issues affecting the normal operation of the portal.
• Investigate and ensure that all referrals submitted to an “unknown” FSM region are appropriately allocated to the relevant FSM for review and assessment by the Chair.
• Ensure that after each of the 17 FSMs is held each fortnight a meeting report is saved to the DHS secure records management system (Objective).

Security

• Vet and action all applications for new representatives, proxies, or Chairs to each of the 17 FSMs.
• Run regular audits of the FSM membership and remove access for representatives, proxies or Chairs who no longer require it.
• Manage and coordinate any security breaches by notifying agencies and suspending accounts where necessary.
• Vet and action any requests for a new agency/service to be added to an FSM.

Reporting

• Provide reports to the Ministers, relevant agencies and governance groups as requested, on the operational status of the Framework (including the Portal), as well as to specific regions or individual agencies.
• Provide reports to the coroner or any other legislated body on specific cases that were involved with the Framework.
• Provide security reports to the Chief Executive and/or Minister.
• Provide reports to the FSM Chairs of the 17 meetings on the efficacy of that region including agency engagement.

Role of FSM agency representatives

Each Family Safety Meeting agency representative must have the authority within their agency to prioritise the actions that arise from the FSM and to be able to make an immediate commitment of resources to ensure there is a rapid response to high-risk cases.

The Agency FSM representatives will:

• Update their agency on the status of the cases on the FSM.
• Gather relevant information from their agency on all referrals on the FSM agenda.
• Update the portal with relevant information on all referrals to the FSM.
• Attend all FSMs and provide a proxy if the representative is unable to attend.
• Attend all FSMs, even if the agency has no prior history of involvement with individuals/cases for consideration.
• Contribute to the discussion and development of a multi-agency Positive Action Plan by proposing actions for that agency, even where there has been no agency involvement in the past.
• Propose, respond, and follow up any designated actions in a timely, efficient manner (RAPID RESPONSE).
• Behave in a respectful manner towards other FSM representatives.