Short Description

The NSW Department of Community Services (DoCS) is the leading NSW Government agency responsible for community services. They work to promote the safety and wellbeing of children and young people and to build stronger families and communities. They operate a 24 hour telephone helpline.

More Details

DoCS helps children, young people and families across a continuum of care. Their core work focuses on child protection, starting with early intervention strategies to help build stronger families and communities. They work to protect children and young people from risk of harm and to provide care for children and young people who are not able to live with their families.

Many of these services are provided through community partners such as non government organisations and government agencies.

DoCS' core activities are to:

help protect and care for children and young people and support their families
provide and fund accommodation and support services for children and young people who need to live away from their families
regulate child care by licensing and monitoring compliance
fund and regulate adoption services
fund support services to assist people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness
help people separated from their families to trace their records
coordinate services to meet the basic welfare and recovery needs of people affected by natural and other disasters.

Services are provided via a network of regional offices and over 85 Community Services Centres throughout NSW.

The DoCS Helpline is a 24 hour statewide telephone service that allows suspected child abuse or neglect to be reported