Overhaul to Protect Victorian Children at Risk

By John Ferguson
The Australian
February 29, 2012

www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/overhaul-to-protect-victorian-children-at-risk/story-e6frgczx-1226284472828

A LOST generation of vulnerable Victorian children has been failed by governments and the legal system, but those responsible for overseeing the systemic departmental chaos will not be pursued by the Baillieu government.

The Cummins inquiry into child protection yesterday backed a ground-up overhaul of child services in Victoria as well as broad changes to the way the Children's Court operates.

It found the growth in suspected child abuse and neglect was so great that almost one in every four children born last year would be the subject of at least one welfare protection report by their 18th birthday.

The inquiry has recommended greater reporting demands on the clergy, with exemptions for the rite of confession, and a whole-of-government response to the child welfare crisis. It has backed a new Commission for Children and Young People and accused Victorian governments over many years of having failed on crucial early-intervention procedures.

The panel also raised the prospect of reforming alcohol pricing and warned of variations in offences depending on regional factors.

It accused government departments of failing to work together to fight abuse and neglect.

"The inquiry has found that some government departments, particularly Education and Early Childhood Development and Health, have given insufficient regard to the needs of Victoria's vulnerable children and young people," it found.

Victoria's Community Services Minister, Mary Wooldridge, said the government would not seek to lay blame for the systemic failures within government.

"And I don't think there is any message from this report that retrospectively points the finger at that person or the other," she said.

"We did this report because we knew that there was a crisis in child protection and we knew it had to change."

The inquiry found many victims were repeatedly referred to agencies and that indigenous children were vastly overrepresented.

"People across Victoria felt so concerned about the welfare of children that they made about 55,000 reports to the . . . Department of Human Services in 2010-11," the report said.

"If current rates continue, one in four children born in Victoria in 2011 will be reported to the DHS by their 18th birthday."

The 700-plus page report made 90 recommendations and 20 findings and identified 14 matters for attention. The report of the Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children Inquiry was prepared by former Supreme Court judge Philip Cummins, professor Dorothy Scott and former bureaucrat Bill Scales.

A committee of ministers chosen by Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu will develop a new strategy for vulnerable children.

The government announced an extra $15 million each year for four years to fund 42 additional child protection workers, to expand family support services and establish centres where police, child protection officers and counsellors were co-located to address the scourge of child sexual abuse.