Child enters customer's care/custody 102-05050010

• Yes, go to Step 9
• No, go to Step 2

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, the change is for a future date:
• Tell the customer to contact after the change
• Record the advice given in a DOC
• Procedure ends here

For current Family Tax Benefit (FTB) customers who are adding an older child (not a newborn child), see Reassessment of FTB for a current customer where an additional child enters care in the current or previous financial year.

If the customer does not receive FTB and wants to claim, encourage them to lodge an online claim. See Initial contact by customers claiming payments for families

If the customer has provided a Details of your child's care arrangements (FA012) form or documents to support a change of care and they are not FTB/CUR and have not lodged a claim, try to call the customer and encourage them to complete an online claim for family assistance. If unable to contact, issue a Q369 letter - Invite to claim for Family Assistance and Parental Leave Pay.

Follow the same process for shared care if the Assessment of Care Arrangements Referral (ZCRF_AOCA_REFERRAL) work item requires action and:

• a FA012 has been lodged for a Foster Child Health Care Card (FST), Low Income Health Care Card (LIC) claim or Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) claim or
• the customer has advised of a change in care in their income support claim

See Step 9 in the Initial customer contact table of Notification and assessment of shared care arrangements for Family Tax Benefit (FTB).

• If the child is absent temporarily from the person who normally cares for them, determine if the customer remains eligible to payments and/or remains the principal carer of the child during the absence
• If a Foster Child has entered care, see Eligibility for FTB for a child in foster care

Check the care status for the child and in Customer First update the Care Alignment Details page. Record the status as 'Commenced' if not already recorded or, if it is Lapsed.

If a care assessment is Commenced on the Centrelink system and is not contested, use the provided information to complete the care assessment in Customer First by 'S'electing the Commenced line and updating the status to 'Finalised'.

• A principal carer determination is required for income support customers if status is 'Commenced' by either agency
• If the child was out of the customer's care without consent or if it was disputed care and the child has now returned to the customer's care, go to Step 4
• To commence a claim or to reassess the customer's entitlements for a child, go to Step 6
• If a representative from a Child Protection Authority/Department (State or Territory) wants to provide information regarding children coming into state care, see Actioning Approved Care Organisation (ACO) advice of transfer, discharge or absence of a young person
• If the customer is a member of a couple, and requests to swap principal carer status. Procedure ends here

In some cases, FTB can be paid for a period of between 4 and 52 weeks from the date the child left the customer's care.

• All disputed care assessments and updates are completed by appropriately skilled staff in the Child Support Smart Centre Division. See Notification and assessment of shared care arrangements for Family Tax Benefits (FTB)
• All left care without consent decisions must be referred to region code FCC for processing. See Child out of care without consent

Disputed care

Staff actioning these changes will continue with the decision making process unless it becomes apparent that it may be appropriate to base care on actual care immediately due to special circumstances. Ensure the keywords shared and disputed are added to any disputed change of care activity so it can be located and processed accordingly.

A separate procedure applies for assessing eligibility for income support as a principal carer during child absences from care.

Left care without consent

Is the customer still being paid for the child (as a principal carer or person sharing the care of the child)?

Check child eligibility details on the Assessment Explanation (AX) screen:

• Yes, transfer to FCC using Fast Note - select Auto text, use Families > Updates > Left care without consent follow up
• FCC processing staff, go to Step 5
• For other staff, procedure ends here
• No, the customer will need to reclaim or have their income support entitlement reassessed unless they are requesting a review of the decision to cease their payment for the child. Go to Step 6

For Families and Child Care Smart Centre Processing staff only

In Customer First

• 'S'elect child from Child Selection (CHS) screen and code 'CHC' in Nxt: to go to the Child in Care (CHC) screen
• On the CHC screen enter:
• Date child returned to care in the Event Date: field
• In the Care Status: field, code 'ICC' (in customer care)
• Source: and DOR: fields
• Update 'FSC' (FTB Shared Care) screen
• Update 'SSC' (SSA Shared Care) screen with the shared care percentage and Principal care indicator. This information will be used if the customer is in receipt of any income support payment
• Press [Enter]
• Record details on a DOC
• Update the Care Alignment Details (CADDS/!CADDS) page for the child as 'Finalised' by 'S'electing the Commenced or provisional line with the corresponding notification date and updating the details. Update details for each child separately
• Finalise activity via the Assessment Results (AR) screen

For income support customers, check principal carer status, see Principal carer of a dependent child. Check if the customer's mutual obligation requirements have changed. A new or updated Job Plan may be required.

Procedure ends here.

Is the customer claiming or receiving an income support payment?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, go to Step 8

Invite claim or transfer for income support if appropriate. The customer may be eligible for a payment as a principal carer of a dependent child (for example, Parenting Payment (PP) or JobSeeker Payment (JSP)).

If the customer is:

• single and the child is under 14 years, tell the customer to lodge a PP claim online. See Claiming Parenting Payment (PP) and Principal carer of a dependent child
• partnered and the child is under 6 years, tell the customer to lodge a PP claim online. See Claiming Parenting Payment (PP) and Principal carer of a dependent child
• claiming for a child over 6 years and they are partnered, tell the customer to lodge a JSP claim online. See Principal carer of a dependent child
• claiming for a child over 14 years and they are single, tell the customer to lodge a JSP claim online. See Principal carer of a dependent child

If the customer is unable to or refuses to lodge a claim online:

• Run the First Contact Service Offer (FCSO) workflow
• If the customer shares care of the child a principal carer determination is required
• Principal carers may be subject to part-time mutual obligation requirements. Refer any customers requiring an update to their existing Job Plan to their local service centre to have this done
• Single principal carer parents may be eligible for a social security benefit or pension at a higher rate
• A 'with child' rate is paid to Youth Allowance (YA) and Austudy customers who are partnered
• Customers with shared care of a child may also be entitled to a higher rate of benefit even where the child is a 'regular care' child
• If the customer is caring for a disabled child, invite claim for Carer Payment/ Carer Allowance
• For PPP customers, check that a claim line exists on the Child Override (CHOC) screen

Does the customer want to claim family assistance, Parental Leave Pay (PPL)?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, procedure ends here

• Check the care status for the child and in Customer First update the Care Alignment Details page
• Record the status as 'Commenced' if not already recorded or if it is Lapsed. If the status has been Commenced by Child Support, a care determination is in progress. Child Support will provide care details electronically
• Consider if the change of care is permanent or temporary
• Consider from the evidence provided where the care change is a delegation of care
• For current FTB customers who wish to add an older child (not a newborn child), see Reassessment of FTB for a current customer where an additional child enters care in the current or previous financial year
• Customers can claim family assistance and PPL online

For more information about claiming family assistance payments, PPL, and/or ancillary benefits for a Regular Care Child, see:

• Claiming family assistance and Parental Leave Pay (PPL) for a newborn child
• Claiming FTB instalments for children in care other than a newborn or adopted child

Customers now caring for a child from a previous relationship may need to apply for child support to be paid more than base rate of FTB Part A for the child.

If any of the customer's children attend child care, invite claim for Child Care Subsidy (CCS).

Foster carers who are not entitled to an automatic concession card through income support or FTB entitlement may wish to claim a Foster Child Health Care Card (FST). If the customer lodges a claim for family assistance, this can be used as a claim for a HCC for a foster child.

Customers caring for a Double Orphan Pension (DOP) child should be invited to claim DOP.

Note: the SSC screen must be updated with the child’s care percentage in all cases where the customer is income support payment current. This will assess for the 'with child' rate of payment for single customers.

Procedure ends here.

• For a family in crisis, only certain Team Leaders or specialists should contact the Team Leader in the local processing team to facilitate urgent processing. Contact a staff member who can advocate on behalf of families in crisis. See Helping customers in crisis or financial hardship claim family assistance
• For a family experiencing financial hardship, check claim progress of actionable families claims. The activity can be referred to Families Processing via the Families Claim Escalation - Hardship Fast Note to prioritise the claim if required. See Helping customers in crisis or financial hardship claim family assistance for further information