5.7 Referring a case externally
When concerns include possible abuse, your role is to pass the report on to professional experts such as the police and child protection/social services, or NGOs that specialise in supporting victims in these cases – and seek their advice about what your next actions should be.
The three key questions are simply:
Am I concerned that someone needs protection, that others may be at risk, or that a crime has been committed? |
Do I have enough information to pass it on, for external agencies to investigate? |
Does passing the concern on increase the risk of harm to the victim or others? |
If the victim is a child, you must always act in their best interests. This means you should always safely refer cases of possible abuse directly involving children, or where children may be at risk.
If the victim is an adult, then it is important to seek their consent before making a referral, unless:
- They are unable to protect themselves and you need to act on their behalf, or
- Other people are at risk because of the situation.
If in doubt, always speak to someone else to help you decide – including the organisations you are thinking of making a referral to. You can always anonymise the case when you have an initial discussion.
If you decide to pass on a report to external agencies, your organisation still needs to put risk management measures – such as a temporary suspension – in place, while the investigation is ongoing.
There may be circumstances where the external investigation could result in an unreasonable delay to your organisation’s own investigation, leaving the person of concern suspended indefinitely and the victim without any resolution.
If that is the case, you must consult your legal adviser and the external investigating agency before initiating any internal investigation. This is to make sure you don’t compromise the external investigation, for example, by alerting someone who may be a
Activity: Case management responsibilities of different stakeholders.
Identify the case management responsibilities of different stakeholders by matching the responsibility to the appropriate stakeholder group.
Select a tile from the Stakeholder column by clicking on it to turn it green. Then choose the correct matching tile from the Responsibility and jurisdiction column. If your choice is correct, both tiles will disappear. Repeat until all the tiles have gone.
Next, you consider managing a serious case in more detail.
5.6 What are the roles and responsibilities of different organisations?
