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.
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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.
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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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