Mandated reporters can report suspected harm by

Learn more about the role of mandated reporters.

Child Abuse Report Line (CARL)

If it is an emergency call 000 immediately.

To report/notify suspicion that a child or young person is, or may be, at risk of harm, telephone the Child Abuse Report Line (CARL) 13 14 78. The report line is available 24 hours a day.

All serious concerns must be reported/notified via the CARL telephone report line and not via the e-CARL online reporting system.

Serious concerns include any of the following:

  • you suspect a child or young person is in imminent or immediate danger of:
    • serious harm
    • serious injury or death (including if they have a current injury suspected as caused by abuse or neglect)
    • chronic neglect
  • an infant (under 12 months) has any injury (includes bruises for babies who are not mobile)
  • a child or young person has been abandoned or is currently unsupervised
  • a plausible threat has been made to kill or seriously harm a child or young person
  • a child or young person has experienced sexual abuse and has contact with the alleged perpetrator within the next 24 hours
  • the concerns are for a child or young person who is under the Guardianship or Custody of the Department for Child Protection.

For details on what to provide in a report, refer to Preparing to report or notify suspected harm to children and young people.

Online reporting system (e-CARL)

All serious concerns must be reported via the Child Abuse Report Line (13 14 78) and must not be submitted via eCARL. eCARL is for non-urgent reports only.

Refer to the previous section for the definition of serious concerns.

To create and submit a non-urgent child abuse or neglect report/notification online you must register and login to the online child protection reporting system.

For help, refer to Instructions for using the online child protection reporting system.

For details on what to provide in a report, refer to Preparing to report or notify suspected harm to children and young people.

Correctly submitting online notifications (e-CARL)

It is important to note that draft online child protection notifications/reports must be submitted for the Child Abuse Report Line staff to be able to assess the information. Any notifications/reports that remain in a draft state will not be assessed by the Child Abuse Report Line until they have been submitted. To ensure you have correctly submitted your online child protection notification/reports, please log in to the system and check that the notification/report is not a draft. Notifiers/reporters will receive two email reminders to complete and submit their online notification/report after creating the draft. All draft notifications will automatically be marked as cancelled/not required 21 days after the date it was created.

Reporting further information to an earlier report/notification

If you become aware of further information, you must add to the report/notification you have made by re-contacting the Child Abuse Report Line 13 14 78 or submitting another eCARL report where appropriate.