CSS does not take any action that may place an applicant or their children at risk.

The purpose of the worker making the assessment is to determine whether the action of pursuing child support will increase the risk of family violence.

In the rare situation where the applicant wants to proceed to obtain child support after the CSW has assessed the applicant’s circumstances and determined that CSS will not proceed, the applicant is given consent to proceed themselves and referred to Legal Aid or other legal resources.

As with other family circumstances the threat of potential family violence changes over time and life events, therefore, the CSW re-assesses the potential for family violence in response to applicant information on active files and completes an assessment of the current situation when files re-open.