Things to think about when making a decision

As far as possible we want all children in care to have normal lives, and this means giving both you and them the ability to make some decisions that enable the child to take part in normal, acceptable, and age-appropriate activities. With this in mind, the basic principles for making decisions are:

Consider	Question prompts
Views of the child	What does the child think?
Age/developmentally-appropriate	Will the decision be age/developmentally-appropriate?
Safety of the child	Does the decision reflect that the child’s safety is paramount?
Security of the child	Will the decision build the child’s sense of belonging and connectedness?
Inclusiveness	Who else should be involved in this decision, e.g. parents, your Child Safety Officer or agency support worker?
Timeliness	How quickly is a decision required? How do I escalate the request for a decision to be made if I don’t receive a timely response from Child Safety?
Legal status of the child	Is this a decision that needs to be made by the child’s legal guardian?
Culture and community	Will the decision affect the child’s connection to their culture and community?
Resources	Does the decision require Child Safety to pre-approve expenditure?
Human rights	Does the decision limit the child's human rights? Is the limitation reasonable or justified? There are 23 human rights to consider. Visit the Queensland Human Rights Commission website for more information.

These basic principles provide the basis for discussions between children, carers, parents, CSOs and agency support workers so that everyone can arrive to the best decision for the child.