Motion
I give notice that, on the next day of meeting, I will move —
That this House —
- recognises that children in contact with the child protection services are in vulnerable situations that can result in abuse, neglect or death;
- notes the repeated failures of our child protection system in keeping children safe, including the —
a) Commissioner for Children and Young People’s (CCYP) multiple inquiries identifying consistent and system-wide failures of the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing’s (DFFH) Child Protection to appropriately respond to referrals of child neglect and abuse;
b) Victorian Auditor-General’s reports that found DFFH had failed to properly monitor placements for children at risk;
c) reports that less than one per cent of annual assessments checking on children in kinship care are done on time;
d) Victorian Coroner’s data that shows that children known to Child Protection are dying at the rate of more than one each week;
3. acknowledges —
a) the goodwill of staff and sector workforce;
b) the concern of sector representatives’ that workforce shortages, staff retention, caseload pressures and insecure program funding is contributing to this crisis;
4. calls on the Government to —
a) urgently appoint an independent Monitor to the DFFH to restore good governance to Child Protection and support DFFH to perform its functions successfully; and
b) require the Monitor to provide regular reports on DFFH’s progress to the CCYP and to recommend any further action.
