Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) Team System

The purpose of the SCAN team system is to enable a coordinated response to the protection needs of children. This is achieved by facilitating:

• the sharing of information between members of the system under the Child Protection Act 1999, Chapter 5A, part 4,
• the planning and coordinating of actions to assess and respond to children's protection needs, and
• a holistic and culturally responsive assessment of children's protection needs.

The Child Protection Act 1999, sections 159I–159L, provides the legislative basis for the establishment and activities undertaken by the SCAN team system. The Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs (DCYJMA) is the lead agency for the SCAN team system and whole of government response to child protection in Queensland.

SCAN teams are comprised of core members from:

• the Department Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs (lead agency)
• the Queensland Police Service
• the Department of Education and
• Queensland Health

The core members are experts in their fields who bring their expertise to these meetings to help to develop and implement considered multi-agency responses to meet a child's protection needs.

SCAN teams may also invite and facilitate contributions from other prescribed entities or service providers with knowledge, experience or resources that would help achieve the purpose of the SCAN team system.

Once the SCAN team has reviewed all available information about a child and their family, they will make recommendations relating to the coordination of multi-agency actions to assess and respond to the protection needs of the child.