The Child Protection Assessment Board was established by the Child Protection Act of 1974. It was a statutory body which had responsibility for protecting children who were treated cruelly or at risk of it.
The Board was a multi-disciplinary team made up of five members including a legal practitioner who was in the chair, a paediatrician, a doctor with experience in treating ‘mental disorders’, and someone with social work experience. The Board could receive and act on notifications of abuse. It appointed officers to whom reports of cruelty could be made. These officers could make 30 day child protection orders and take other steps necessary to protect a child. In order to seek a ward of state order, the Board could bring a child before the magistrate.
The Board had assessment committees in southern Tasmania, northern Tasmania, and two in north-west Tasmania at Burnie and Devonport. These committees were made up of specialists from paediatrics, social work, child care, the law, the police, and child intervention.
Following a Tasmanian Task Force on Child Sexual Assault report in 1989, the government re-structured the Board to broaden its role and re-named it the Child Protection Board.