NSW Department of Communities and Justice on behalf of all Australian State and Territory child protection agencies

Objective has helped child protection agencies across Australia securely share vital information, make better decisions and improve child safety.

The need to better share information to improve child safety outcomes had been a recognised challenge for a number of years following several state and federal government enquiries. The barriers to information sharing across borders meant workers in each state had limited or no visibility of vital information that could change the outcomes of their cases - and children's lives.

One of the main challenges to information sharing was the different technologies and methods used by each state and territory agency. It meant information was hard to find, match and share across systems, and there was no market-ready solution available to address this.

The federal government Department of Social Services (DSS) nominated this complex challenge for an innovation initiative to encourage vendors to create an innovative solution that could address these complexities. Objective (formerly Itree) won the initiative and went on to work with the lead agencies to create a sophisticated data-matching solution that’s the first of its kind.

Objective Reach, and for us, Connect for Safety, is a world-first initiative - it’s something that was never achieved, anywhere, internationally or across the nation before. It enables real-time decision-making about risks for children that helps keep them safe.

Briony Foster

Executive District Director, Sydney, South Eastern Sydney and Northern Sydney Districts, Department of Communities and Justice

The federally funded national rollout of the solution was led by DCJ and required close collaboration between Objective, DSS and all other state and territory child protection agencies. The outcome is a solution that now helps trigger vital early action, facilitate better coordination across agencies and inform critical decisions to help improve child safety outcomes.

The platform is designed specifically to share sensitive data across multiple systems and organisations. Find the most likely record fast, even with partial or incorrect data, all while complying with policy and legislation. The full picture helps to more clearly understand circumstances and assess the risks. The result: more informed decision making and assessment by accessing the right information at the right time.