Case Study topic: Community Services

Case study homework help:

The Policies and Protocols of Organization

 As the coordinator of Community Refuge, following the policies and procedures is my duty as policies and procedures are devise din any organisation to promote consistent practice all through the organisation, help case workers in dealing with problems which might arise for e.g. in this case when the client made a complaint against the case worker for insufficient information to report to Department of Community Services (DoCS) and the worker thus breached the confidentiality too.

Some of the policies and procedures covered in the the manual which govern the organisation and are in support of the case worker are mentioned below:

• Case management procedures
• Conflict resolution and various communication procedures
• Personnel Practices
•  Delegations
•  Confidentiality, Security procedures and Privacy
• Coordination and external networking with the agencies
•  Notification of child abuse and various other critical incident procedures
• Duty of care

 Working within the policies and procedures close networking with the colleagues and management, attending management committee and staff meetings, reading memos and emails, networking informally with other workers and taking opportunity to be involved in the policies development is required as a Co-ordinator.

The complaints should be managed in following steps:

1. Helping the clients to complain
2. Hearing the clients
3. Hearing the concerns of others

 Following the organisational policy and protocols while managing a complaint is necessary therefore a complaint should never be ignored.

Basic Protocols

All the services in an organisation should have some or the other form of complaints policy and protocols which are totally different from organisational procedures. Some protocols of an organisation are:

• On entering the services the client or the families should be informed or handed over the policy or the organisational protocol should be easily accessible within the service.
•   Standard forms and Copies of protocol/ policies should be easily accessible for the staff so they can be shared with the clients while registering.
•  Staff should be regularly trained in managing the complaints effectively and should be familiar about the protocols like whom to refer and how (Principles for developing organisational policies and protocols for responding to clients at risk of suicide and self-harm, 2008).

An Outline of Any Support or Guidance you have given to the Worker

 The Worker required support and guidance regarding making the complaint regarding the child protection issue to the Department of Community Services. The worker found some reasonable grounds on the basis of which he/ she wanted to file this complaint. Being the coordinator of Community Refuge it is my role and responsibility to assist the case worker in notifying the right authorities after finding the reasonable grounds for reporting the child protection issue (preventing child abuse & neglect , n.d.).

 The reasonable grounds on the basis of which the Department of Community Services was sent a notification were:

• The child himself/ herself told the case worker that he/ she have suffered non –accidental physical injury.
•  Someone else the neighbours and the maid servants working at the house also testified that the child has been abused.
•  The observations of the case worker for few days in a month regarding the physical condition of the child as well as the behaviour of the child lead to the belief that the child had suffered non-accidental physical injury or some kind of sexual abuse.

 As per the mandatory reporting in all the Australian states and territories there is legislation in place according to which child’s mistreatment should be  reported. Even the Commonwealth needs all the family court staff should report the child mistreatment. Along with this mandatory reporting legislation many states and territories have guidelines or departmental protocols according to which specific professions should report child’s mistreatment.

 Thus, I helped the case worker to collect all the required evidence of child mistreatment and once they were confirmed under the Mandatory Reporting Legislation the matter was being reported so that it could be made sure that the child feels safe at home.

 Helped the case worker to make referral of the child to the relevant Advocacy Service which could help him and his family.

Rights and Responsibilities of all the Parties Involved

 Confidentiality is restriction imposed on the personal information of the client which can be given to authorised personnel only as it helps in building as well as developing trust with the client. This is the reason why the clients consent is taken before initiating talks with the third party so that the confidentiality and privacy of the client is fully protected. Informed consent where formal permission is taken from the client to access the personal information or asking the person who has the legal authority to provide relevant information on behalf of the client is needed. The acts governing the confidentiality and privacy of clients are (policies and procedures for community partners, n.d.):

• Health Administration Act 1982(NSW)
• Public Health Act  1991(NSW)
• Health Records and  Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW)
• Privacy and Personal Information Protection  Act  2002 (NSW) (Department of Human Services NSW, n.d.)

 However there are few exceptions to the rule of confidentiality in which there is legal base and they are:

•  Giving information to police if they have warrant to inspect the documents
•  In response to summons or subpoena
• Giving the personal information in case of confirmed or suspected physical or sexual abuse.
• In response to the right of freedom of information legislation

Gathering and Maintenance of personal Information

  Case worker can ask for personal information from the client only after giving the client information about:

• Reason for the information requirement
• Way in which you will record information
• For whom the information is intended
• How the information is accessed kept safe.

Client agreement or the person obtaining the services’ agreement is very necessary however in some cases the consent of family members is also needed in decision making. Legal carerers or family members also referred to as gate keepers of some clients’ and some of the rights which clients or gate keepers’ of client have are:

•  The Disability Discrimination Act 1992
•  The Sex Discrimination Act 1992
•  The Racial Discrimination Act  1975
•  The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commissions Act 1996
•  The Guardianship Act 1987 (NSW)
• Freedom of Information Act 1982 and  NSW Amendments
•  Community Service ( Complaints,  Reviews an monitoring) Act 1993
•  Mental Health Act (NSW) 2007

 There are few Child Protection Acts which cover the rights and responsibilities of the children undergoing any kind of physical abuse or any other problem. 

An Outline of Any Further Action You Plan to Take

 Any further action which is being planned to be taken to handle this case is first realising the ‘Duty of Care’ responsibility we would talk to the client and make him/ her aware of their duty of acre which comes under the legal concept of negligence. Associated with the duty of care comes along the Dignity of risk according to which  every person ahs right to experience all that which life has to offer therefore it sit eh duty of the case worker as a community worker to protect they child from  any possible risk.

 We will prepare a checklist of Duty of Care which would include:

•  Extent or likelihood  of the foreseeable harm to the child
•  Extent or likelihood of the foreseeable benefit for the client
•  Try to create a balance between foreseeable harm and benefits
•  Try always to minimise the risk of harm through activities which do not put at stake the benefits of the activity.

As a community worker we will try to fulfil all the duty of care responsibilities while ensuring that adequate care is being taken to avoid any kind of injury. While doing this few things which should be kept in mind are:

• Assessment of foreseeable injury
• Assessment of seriousness of injury
•  Keep values of workers as well as client in mind
•  Doing everything which is reasonable to avoid  injury
•  Safeguarding others from injury
•  Supporting the client  and child to confront the risks safely (Maintain Legal and Ethical Work practices, n.d.)

 MB49

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