Major change from ‘maltreatment’ to ‘harm’ and inclusion of exposure to physical violence (commencing 8 December 2008)
The Care and Protection of Children Act 2007 (Act 37) received assent on 12 December 2007, and Chapter 2 Part 2.1 (the new mandatory reporting provisions) commenced on 8 December 2008.22 Until then, the MR provisions in the CWA effectively continued. From 8 December 2008, the key provisions in the Care and Protection of Children Act 2007 applied, replacing the former Community Welfare Act 1983.
These new provisions in the Care and Protection of Children Act 2007 had the following effects:
The key change was replacing the concept of maltreatment with the concept of ‘harm’, which was defined very broadly in s 15 (including exposure of a child to domestic violence, provided the harm threshold was reached). ‘Harm’ was defined as:
