Healthcare

Certain tests and treatments require the approval of a caseworker or agency, the child’s parents or the child themselves.

Authorised carers can consent to many day-to-day medical and dental treatments for the children and young people in their care. Note that carers must keep caseworkers informed of serious accidents, injuries or illnesses.

Children and young people aged 14 years and older can give consent to their own medical treatment if they have sufficient maturity and are capable of understanding the nature and consequences of the treatment.

In most other circumstances, consent must be obtained from DCJ. For certain children and young people whose placement is managed by Barnardos, parental responsibility for medical and dental consent remains with Barnardos.

Carer consent

As an authorised carer you can consent to medical and dental treatment not involving surgery if advised by a medical or dental practitioner. You can also consent to emergency treatment involving surgery if certified, ideally in writing, by a medical or dental practitioner. Let your caseworker know about any treatment you’ve consented to, so they can include this in the child or young person’s file.

Caseworker or agency consent

You need approval from your caseworker or a manager from your agency for other treatments, including:

• medical and dental surgery (non-urgent)
• medical treatments for terminal illnesses
• end-of-life decisions or medical intervention
• drug and alcohol rehabilitation
• contraception for children aged under 14
• pregnancy termination for children aged under 14
• psychiatric admission and treatment
• DNA tests
• most other tests including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.

Testing for HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis

You can give consent for the child or young person to be immunised against Hepatitis A and B. However, you can’t give consent for a child or young person to be tested for HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C.

For children under 14, medical tests that involve taking tissue samples or body fluids, such as blood or urine, can’t be done without your agency’s approval.

Your agency will only give approval for testing if there are sufficient grounds to suspect the child or young person may be infected and testing is considered to be in their best interests or they’ve asked to be tested.

If the child is 14 or older, they can make their own decisions about medical tests and give their own informed consent for testing.

Using psychotropic medication

A psychotropic drug is a prescribed medication that affects a person’s perception, thinking, mood, level of arousal or behaviour. It may be prescribed by a doctor to treat mental illness, psychiatric disorders or other symptoms.

Psychotropic medication is not a stand-alone solution for challenging behaviour. It should only be considered in the context of behaviour support strategies that may have a positive impact on behaviour. All children on psychotropic medication must also have a Behaviour Support Plan developed by the caseworker and a psychologist or other specialist.

When a child is prescribed a psychotropic drug by a medical practitioner:

• the carer must immediately notify DCJ or the agency responsible for the placement
• the carer can administer the medication
• the caseworker and carer must update each other on any changes to the medication on the dosage, and any changes in the child or young person’s moods or behaviour; this information should be provided to the medical practitioner at the child’s medical review.