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Tasmania - Organisation

Child Protection Assessment Board (1975 - 1991)

From
1975
To
1991
Categories
Government Agency

The Child Protection Assessment Board was established by the Child Protection Act of 1974. It was a statutory body which had responsibility for protecting children who were treated cruelly or at risk of it.

Details

The Board was a multi-disciplinary team made up of five members including a legal practitioner who was in the chair, a paediatrician, a doctor with experience in treating 'mental disorders', and someone with social work experience. The Board could receive and act on notifications of abuse. It appointed officers to whom reports of cruelty could be made. These officers could make 30 day child protection orders and take other steps necessary to protect a child. In order to seek a ward of state order, the Board could bring a child before the magistrate.

The Board had assessment committees in southern Tasmania, northern Tasmania, and two in north-west Tasmania at Burnie and Devonport. These committees were made up of specialists from paediatrics, social work, child care, the law, the police, and child intervention.

Following a Tasmanian Task Force on Child Sexual Assault report in 1989, the government re-structured the Board to broaden its role and re-named it the Child Protection Board.

Timeline

 1975 - 1991 Child Protection Assessment Board
       1991 - 1998 Child Protection Board

Related Events

Related Organisations

Publications

Books

  • Tasmania. Task Force on Child Sexual Assault, Tasmanian Task Force Report on Child Sexual Assault : a report to the Minister for Community Services, 1989, 142 pp. Details

Reports

  • Tasmanian Task Force on Child Sexual Abuse: a report to the Minister for Community Services, November 1989. Details
  • Department of Community Services: Annual Report 1989-90, 1990. Details

Sources used to compile this entry: Tasmanian Task Force on Child Sexual Abuse: a report to the Minister for Community Services, November 1989; Department of Community Services: Annual Report 1989-90, 1990.

Prepared by: Caroline Evans