Statement on report
Tania MAXWELL (Northern Victoria) (17:28):
I rise to speak on the Victorian Auditor General’s report into Kinship Care (June 2022). This is yet another report that brings attention to the failures of Victoria’s child protection system.
This report notes that between 2017 and 2021, the number of children and young people in kindship care grew by 33.2 per cent.
The Auditor-General’s report into kinship care has once again shown that the Department (of Families, Fairness and Housing) cannot assure it is meeting its obligations to keep children safe on its watch.
The Auditor-General found that the department was failing to properly monitor placements for children and young people in kinship care. The department does not ensure that staff and service providers complete mandatory assessments. They can’t demonstrate whether children are safe, because they don’t monitor it. They simply leave things to chance!
Less than 1pc of annual assessments were completed on time. More than half of assessments at the six-week placement mark were not completed. What are we saying to these children when our state doesn’t even bother to check on their safety?
The report exposed that community service organisations and Aboriginal community-controlled organisations are provided only limited training from the Department.
Further, the Department doesn’t even know if the Aboriginal Kinship Funding program is even working because the referral systems are not effective, and no monitored. There is no reporting on how many children have been referred to the Victorian Aborginal Child Care Agency, the timeliness of the referrals, or the outcomes.
Kinship Carers Victoria said that none of the failings highlighted by the Auditor-General are a surprise and that the greatest barrier continues to be lack of resources to implement the Auditor-General’s recommendations.[i]
The Auditor-General notes with urgency that kinship carers do not receive the level of financial support necessary to address the needs of children in their care. This propels kinship carers into a cycle of hardship and deters new carers. Kinship Carers Victoria notes that successive governments, investigative reports, ministers and the Department continue to be warned about this issue and fail to respond.
I did a quick scan in preparing this statement on report, counted 15 reviews and systemic inquiries relating to child protection since 2009. The child protection system is certainly placed under some scrutiny and this continues to be with good reason because report after report is damning.
It seems that we go from bad to worse, despite commissioner reviews, Ombudsman investigations, parliamentary inquiries, VAGO reviews, and coronial inquests that keep telling us the child protection system is completely failing and the response is half-baked. We risk being completely desensitised to the horror that is befalling these children because it is just a roundabout of report after report, which each one painting a more damning picture than the last!
That is why I brought a motion to the Parliament this week calling for an independent monitor to be appointed to oversee child protection and get the system back on the right footing. This happens regularly in local government as a way to support effective governance. Given the government says all the time that nothing is more important than the safety of children, we should be addressing the system failures in a holistic and ongoing way and get child protection on track.
I really feel for this sector’s workforce. I have absolutely no doubt about their personal commitment and dedication to these children. It’s not the workers, it is the system that is the problem. It’s no wonder there are high rates of turnover and burnout as the workforce is seemingly forced to cut corners. It literally puts lives at risk.
The recent case in our County Court of a four-year-old boy being left with 60 injuries is a heartbreaking reminder of what can happen when the system isn’t watching. That poor child will have a lifetime of consequences from the psychological and developmental impacts of his abuse, and the judge said that the department placed this boy in harm’s way.
Every week a child in contact with child protection dies. The commissioner continually refers to a pattern in our child protection system of multiple reports being made, followed by case closure, referral to child and family services, followed by no engagement and no effective intervention.
This system remains in crisis and children are the unwilling victims. It will probably end up requiring a royal commission – which would cost millions of dollars. If this was invested in early intervention with robust and ongoing oversight, I would like to think these children would be a lot safer. They’d certainly have a better chance.
