Assessments

Operational data

Operational data is primarily used by the Department to internally monitor operations and may inform adequate staffing and resourcing decisions.

Operational data has not been through a rigorous data cleansing process, and as such there is a margin of error to be considered when reviewing the data. Data is indicative only – providing information about trends, themes, emerging issues or areas requiring attention.

This data is not comparable to previously released corporate data. This data is also unlikely to match corporate data to be released later in 2026.

Once more contemporary corporate data is released, operational data will no longer be available.

These reports have been developed using operational data, to provide an overview of performance and demand, and should be treated as indicative only. Operational data should be interpreted and used with caution and understanding of limitations outlined in caveats and data interpretation notes.

Assessments Received by Child Safety

Assessment

Footnotes and caveats

  • Data is presented for the 12 months ending 31 December 2025.
  • Axes may vary by chart and region. Please see total figures.

Data interpretation notes

  • A notification is recorded when there is a reasonable suspicion that a child is in need of protection.
  • When a notification is recorded, the department must investigate and/or assess the concerns via an assessment case.
  • This data shows the number of assessment cases received by the department over the last 12 months, ending December 2025, by region. An assessment case is counted as “1 assessment received” regardless of the number of children in the household.
  • Data exclusions: Excludes all matters where there is no subject child listed, reopened matters, matters with a status of ‘created in error’.
  • Region totals might not add up to the state total as some cases could be counted under more than one region following case transfers.

Assessments in progress by whether commenced or not – PR24

Assessment in progress

Footnotes and caveats

  • Data is as at 31 December 2025.
  • Proportions are provided, rather than overall counts, due to small numbers in some regions meaning that data is potentially identifiable.

Data interpretation notes

  • Priority Response 24-hour cases (PR24) are the most urgent assessment cases.
  • These assessment cases must be commenced by sighting or engaging with the child and completing an assessment of their immediate safety.
  • This data shows the number of in-progress assessment cases that have been assigned as a PR24, by their commencement statues (i.e. commenced or not commenced).
  • Reflects the point-in-time situation as at 31 December 2025.
  • This data reflects the number of Assessment cases in progress. Corporate data reflects closed Assessment cases by whether they were able to be commenced or not. The operational data will appear quite different than the corporate data for this reason.
  • Data exclusions: Excludes all matters where there is no subject child listed, reopened matters, matters with a status of ‘created in error’.