Proposal Paper: Child Friendly Complaints Enhancements

Developed by:

Child Friendly Complaints Working Party

1.0Purpose

This paper explores proposed enhancements to the department’s complaints management system.The enhancements aim to improve the system’s accessibility and usability for children and young people. The enhancements have been informed by a review of the current complaints management system conducted by the Child Friendly Complaints Working party and form part of the department’s child and family reform agenda.This paper aims to provide stakeholders with the opportunity to provide input and feedback into the proposed enhancements prior to their design and implementation.Specifically, the working party is seeking feedback on the viability of the proposals and any barriers identified that may impact on implementation.

2.0Background

2.1 The need for reform

The Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry was established on 1 July 2012 with the Honourable Tim Carmody SC appointed as Commissioner. The Inquiry was established to review Queensland child protection services, design a new child protection system and develop a roadmap for the next decade. The report, Taking responsibility: A Roadmap for Queensland Child Protection was handed down on 1 July 2013 and made 121 recommendations for comprehensive systemic reforms to achieve the best possible outcomes for children, young people and families.

On 16 December 2013, the Queensland Government released its response to the report, accepting all 121 recommendations (115 accepted and six in-principle) (Queensland Government 2013) which will:

  • Share responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of Queensland children
  • Provide support for families earlier
  • Work better with Queensland families in the child protection system
  • Improve out-of-home care and post-care for children and young people
  • Meet the requirements and needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities
  • Deliver quality services to children and families through a capable, motivated workforce and client focussed organisations
  • Build a transparent and cost effective system (Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services 2014)

Build an accountable, transparent and cost effective system.Of the 121 recommendations made by the Inquiry, recommendation 12.10 relates to the proposals contained in this paper.It states:

That each department with responsibility for child protection improve public confidence intheir responsiveness to complaints by:

  • regularly surveying complainants
  • publishing a complaints report annually
  • working with the Child Guardian to provide child-friendly complaints processes(Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry 2013 p. 421).

Recommendation 12.10 was accepted in full and the proposals in this paper aim to fulfil the department’s responsibilities to address the child friendliness of the complaints process.

The proposals in this paper aim to fulfil the department’s responsibilities to address the child friendliness of the complaints process outlined above in point three.

2.2 Complaints Management System

The Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services (the department) is committed to providing high quality services to its customers and respects the right of individuals to give feedback on the department’s actions, services and products. The department currently receives complaints via an online complaints form, free-call 1800 telephone number, email, post or face to face. Complaints can be received by service centres, regional offices or the Central Complaints and Review Unit.

Complaints can be resolved through facilitated resolution or complaint investigation. Facilitated resolution involves contact and negotiation with the complainant and staff involved in the complaint to reach mutually acceptable outcomes. It is important to recognise that facilitated resolution is a formal complaint management process that can be subject to internal and external review processes.

Service Centres are responsible for managing complaints by facilitated resolution only. Regional offices and the Central Complaints and Review Unit can resolve complaints through facilitated resolution or complaint investigation. The key factor in determining where and how a complaint will be resolved is the complexity of the complaint issue. The department’s preference is for complaints to be resolved at service centres through facilitated resolution. Where there are factors impacting on the likelihood of successfully resolving a complaint at a service centre, for example perceived conflicts of interest or the complexity of the complaint issues, the complaint is managed regionally or centrally. The department aims to resolve low complexity complaints within 15 days, medium complexity complaints within 45 days and high complexity complaints within six months.

Following a complaint process a complainant can request an internal review to be conducted if they believe there were issues with the decision making or complaint management. All internal reviews are conducted by the Central Complaints and Review Unit. Following the conclusion of an internal review the complainant may also choose to refer the matter to the Queensland Ombudsman for external review.

2.3 Children and Young People’s Participation Strategy

The Children and Young People’s Participation Strategy is a key resource and guide for enhancing the accessibility and usability of the departments complaints system for children and young people. It was developed by G-Force (nd) and enhances opportunities for children and young people to overcome barriers and have a voice (Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services 2014).The strategy enhances opportunities for a child or young person to overcome barriers and have a voice. G-Force was established as a working group of the Child Protection Partnership Forum and is collaborative group with membership from young people with a care experience, CREATE Foundation, the department, peak bodies, Queensland Family and Child Commission, the Office of the Public Guardian, and other government and non-government agencies.

The Children and Young People’s Participation strategy reinforces the department’s commitment to ensuring children and young people have opportunities to meaningfully participate in planning and decisions that impact them and their peers. The strategy is supported by the working party’s deliberate choice to include children and young people in the creation of child friendly complaints enhancements and the vital role children and young people will have in these initiatives once implemented. working party’s deliberate choice to include children and young people in the creation of the new child friendly complaints systemThe sThe strategy incorporates a vision and framework for the participation of children and young people in decision making. The objective of the strategy is to:

  • develop a culture that values children’s and young people’s views and proactively facilitates their participation;
  • increase the number of children and young people who report having opportunities to participate in decision making;
  • increase the number of children and young people who report being satisfied with the process and effect of their participationincorporates a vision and framework for the participation of children and young people in decision making.;
  • expand opportunities for children and young people to have input into the nature and delivery of services to them and their peers (G-Force nd).

To achieve these goals the strategy aims to:

  • Build a culture that supports and values children and young people’s participation.
  • Develop structure’s that support the participation of children and young people and ensure planning and service delivery takes into account their perspectives.
  • Strengthen practice by improving how children and young people are engaged and supported to participate both individually and in groups.
  • Establish review processes that evaluate the impact that participation has had on decisions and outcomes for children and young people (G-Force nd).

3.0 Additional drivers of change

3.1 Queensland Ombudsman’s Audit

In 2014 theQueensland Ombudsman undertook an audit of the Child Safety Service’s complaints management system.The audit was conducted in two parts and examined the management of complaints between 1 July 2012 and 30 June 2013.The first part of the audit was conducted primarily via desktop review and examined:

  • CMS policies and procedures
  • external visibility and accessibility (website)
  • internal communication and training
  • complaints resolution
  • internal reporting
  • monitoring effectiveness, and
  • external reporting

The second part of the audit was conducted through meetings with various service centres, regional and central complaints staff along with a review of a number of Resolve reports and documents and files from service centres and regional offices.The second component of the audit examined the following:

  • local understanding and application of CMS policies and procedures
  • extent of visibility and accessibility for clients
  • channels used for making complaints
  • extent of internal communication and training
  • processes for referral of complaints
  • local practices and stages applied to complaints resolution
  • local understanding and use of Resolve, ICMS and other ICT solutions
  • quantity of complaints made to the various levels
  • extent and methods of internal reporting, and monitoring effectiveness
  • existence of good or poor complaints management practices, and
  • potential improvements.

The audit made a total of 40 recommendations for improving the department’s complaints management system.In August 2014, the department accepted 37 of the recommendations and noted the remaining three recommendations from the audit report.The department identified that the majority of recommendations would be implemented in conjunction with the child and family complaints reform process.

Key recommendations arising from the Queensland Ombudsman’s Audit Report included:

  • The establishment of a two tiered internal complaints management system with complaints managed at either service centres, regional offices or the Central Complaints and Review Unit followed by an internal review as requested by the complainant.
  • Service Centre’s being restricted to managing only low complexity complaints.
  • The establishment of a designated ‘complaints officer’ within each service centre and ensuring contact information for these officers is available for customers and staff.
  • Review and “significantly upgrade the external visibility and accessibility of the complaints process, particularly for children and young people in consultation with the Public Guardian.”
  • Development and implementation of standard documents and checklists to inform complaints management and consistent and simplified policy and procedural guidance.
  • Enhancements to the support provided to regional and service centre complaints handling officers and improvements tomonitoring the effectiveness of the complaints management system.

The recommendations from the Queensland Ombudsman’s Audit have been considered in the department’s child and family complaints reform including the proposals outlined in this paper.

3.2 Australian/New Zealand Standard

The Australian/New Zealand Standard, AS/NZS 10002:2014: Guidelines for complaints management in organizations provides guidance and consistency in complaints management for organisations. The updated standards supersede AS ISO 10002–2006, Customer Satisfaction –Guidelines for complaints management in organisations(Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand 2014).

Section 219A of the Public Services Act 2008(Queensland) requires government departments to establish and implement a complaints management system that complies with any Australian Standard about handling customer complaints.Recent updates to the Australian Standard require the department to amend its complaints management system to ensure continued compliance with the standard.The revised standard incorporates new perspectives and approaches to handling complaints that have proved effective in recent years and reflects a trend away from quality management approaches in the complaints management field (Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand 2014).

3.3 Queensland Audit Office

In May 2015, the Queensland Audit Office undertook an assessment of the department’s information sharing and security. The Audit aimed to establish whether the department has been able to make sure that the right information is made available only to the right people at the right time and in the right format. The audit found that the department is yet to achieve the appropriate balance between security and availability of child information. The audit comments “When young lives are at risk, priority must be given to accessibility and availability; while always remembering that inappropriate access to this data could increase the risk of harm.” When young lives are at risk, priority must be given to accessibility and availability; while always remembering that inappropriate access to this data could increase the risk of harm. When young lives are at risk, priority must be given to accessibility and availability; while always remembering that inappropriate access to this data could increase the risk of harm.

The findings of the audit have implications for the management of complaints within the department’s complaints management system. Confidentiality and privacy considerations are important in any complaint process; they are particularly important for complaints raised by vulnerable children and young people in the child protection system. Children and young people in the child protection system have a multitude of people and agencies involved in their lives and it is important that information related to their complaints is being securely recorded and shared only when and with those people necessary. As stated later in this paper, the fear of retribution is a key factor in children and young people’s willingness to access the complaints management system. Natural justice principles require the subject of a complaint to have the opportunity to respond to allegations. However in the eyes of vulnerable child complainants, unnecessary sharing of confidential information is likely to undermine confidence in the system’s ability to protect them from retribution and their willingness to access the complaints system in the future.whether the department has been able to make sure that the right information is made available only to the right people at the right time and in the right format whether the department has been able to make sure that the right information is made available only to the right people at the right time and in the right format whether the department has been able to make sure that the right information is made available only to the right people at the right time and in the right format whether the department has been able to make sure that the right information is made available only to the right people at the right time and in the right format whether the department has been able to make sure that the right information is made available only to the right people at the right time and in the right format

4.0 Complaint reform process

Complaints and Review have been assigned responsibility for leading reforms relating to complaints and child death and serious physical injury reviews.Complaints reform has three broad components based on recommendation 12.10 of the Inquiry:

  • Surveying complainants
  • Public reporting
  • Child friendly complaints

While these three components are interrelated the approach taken for their design, development and implementation has differed.For the child friendly complaints component of the reforms, Complaints and Review assembled a working party comprised of members from Central Complaints and Review Unit, Regional Offices, Service Centres, Queensland Ombudsman, Queensland Family and Child Commission, Office of the Public Guardian, CREATE staff and young consultants, FosterCare Queensland, Indigenous Family and Child Support Service (IFACSS).Several attempts were made to extend an invitation for membership to Family Inclusion Network Brisbane (FIN Brisbane) however these were unsuccessful.

The working party initially undertook a review of the accessibility and usability of the current complaints system for children and young people.The review involved engagement with children and young people via a survey, input from non-government agencies outside the working party including care agencies, Family Inclusion Network Townsville, Queensland Police Service and Department of Education and Training,

a review of available literature, environmental scan, discussion with Foster Care Queensland FAST delegates and consultation with service centres regarding key findings and assumptions. A review report was compiled by a sub-committee formed from working party members and grouped the review findings into four key themes.These findings and themes were used to inform the development of solutions to improve the child friendliness of the current system. The review findings will be discussed in section 6 of this paper.

In order to develop solutions to the identified issues the working party undertook a variety of consultative processes.Initially, the working party sought ideas from working party members and utilised a Yammer networkto engage internal and external members, along with email and telephone conversations to share potential solutions.The department and CREATE partnered to conduct a youth engagement roundtable with 11 young consultants from CREATE and a separate subcommittee was established from working party members to participate in a workshop to develop solutions.