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Children put at risk by overburdened system

By Ray Cleary - posted Wednesday, 30 December 2009


Child Protection services in Victoria and throughout Australia are under duress as they are in many parts of the world. As families continue to buckle under the pressures of modern living, children are increasingly suffering from abuse and neglect.

This spreading disease must stop.

We cannot continue plugging holes in the Child Protection system with sandbags but rather must invest earlier to ensure all children receive the care and nurture they require from the day they are born. Quite obviously, not all children receive this on a daily basis.

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This is not someone else’s responsibility but ours.

The recent Ombudsman’s report in Victoria acknowledged the state’s policy framework as leading the way in responding to the needs of children.

However, the report also identified systemic failures which let down vulnerable children and their families.

The Ombudsman also identified failure in the court system with the implication that some children are placed at further risk as a result of their decisions.

Anglicare Victoria’s data from across the state shows that more than half of all families who come in contact with our Family Service programs need help with general parenting issues while just over a third report problems managing the behaviour of their children.

These cases have the potential to become more serious as families come under increasing stress but if acted upon early with community support and guidance, parents can improve their skills and children can remain safe and secure.

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Roughly one quarter of Family Services cases are complicated due to issues such as mental health or family violence. These families need specialist support from professional Family Services staff to identify and tackle the root causes of their issues. With the right help over a longer period, these families can learn to manage or overcome their issues and nurture their children.

Only a relatively small number of cases seriously threaten the immediate wellbeing of children. In these cases, government Child Protection workers need the time, skills and support to help these children quickly and effectively.

But the current system is failing them. The Ombudsman’s report highlights bottlenecks, inconsistent risk assessment and a time intensive children’s court system draining time and impeding the effectiveness of the Child Protection system.

Consider that only 7 per cent of Child Protection cases go to court yet staff spend half their time there. That leaves 93 per cent of all their cases to be dealt with in the remaining time.

Worse still, the current court process can encourage conflict and further damage families due to its adversarial nature. The Ombudsman recommended investigating alternatives such as the Children’s Hearing System in Scotland which works collaboratively to make a decision in the best interests of the child.

Another model worth investigating is the justice conferencing system. Justice conferencing has had great success in Australia and overseas in reducing the rate of re-offending in the criminal system.

Justice conferencing would not be appropriate in cases of sexual abuse or where intimidation may occur but in cases of neglect (the bulk of all Child Protection cases) the conferencing system would allow parents or carers to gain a fuller understanding of the consequence of their actions and potentially improve the chances of them changing their behaviour.

These alternate approaches will enable the elements of cumulative harm to the child to be evaluated and the rights of and best needs of the child to be of the highest priority.

Without significant changes to the court system, Child Protection workers will continue to struggle to meet the demands of their job and children will suffer.

At the time of the Ombudsman’s investigation, one in five child protection cases were waiting to be allocated a worker. That is more than 2,000 cases where a child might have been in serious danger.

In Gippsland, more than half of all cases were waiting to be assigned a case worker.

The report also found that in some instances, staff time constraints led to criminal records checks being overlooked, case plans not completed and contact made over the phone instead of in person. All of these practices are in direct conflict with statutory requirements.

The Victorian State Government has accepted the report and committed to carry out all recommendations. I welcome their commitment to improve standards but question whether we will see any real change unless both the systemic and cultural changes are addressed.

Their response includes additional DHS staff appointments, at least four reviews, the creation of a committee, a clarification of roles and responsibilities, extra meetings, a commitment to collaborate with police and the improvement of the documentation of investigations.

Workforce support and retention, while acknowledged, does not receive the priority it deserves. Staff need to be valued and renumerated at a level which acknowledges their difficult and challenging work.

What we need, and what our children deserve, is a co-ordinated whole of community strategy to identify risk early and to support families before their children need protection.

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About the Author

Dr Ray Cleary is the Chief Executive Officer at Anglicare Victoria, the state’s largest provider of support services for children and families.

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