Child Safety Director-General’s update for non-government service providers on COVID-19

Your attention is drawn to this Director-General’s COVID-19 Update from the Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women (DCSYW) sent to non-government service providers on 9th April 2020.

To assist in streamlining the dissemination of information to non-government service providers, the practice of DCSYW Regional Offices sending communiques of this type to service providers has been replaced by a centralised process of all service providers receiving information from the DCSYW at the same time.

Matters addressed in this COVID-19 UPDATE include:

Residential care services

• An account of a workshop hosted by the DCSYW on 6th April 2020 and attended by over 70 representatives of Queensland residential care providers, peak bodies and representative groups.

• An account of the largely ‘business as usual’ approach to the renewal of service contracts, with advice provided about the processes to be followed in the event of emergency advance funding being sought in order to continue essential service delivery or an organisation experiencing difficulties in meeting service deliverables in accordance with their contract.

• An account of Information that can be accessed from the DCSYW website and the NDIS website about now NDIS plans and supports are being adjusted to ensure that children and young people continue to receive help and remain safe.

• Offers of free online training on infection control by the Australian Department of Health and fact sheets and posters available for downloading from their website.