In 2010, in response to child protection chaos, the New South Wales government announced a $750 million “shake-up” transferring responsibility for less serious cases to non-government agencies. This would enable the Department of Community Services to deal with children “most at risk of significant harm”. The aim was to provide practical assistance to prevent family problems from reaching crisis point. New South Wales had 309,000 reports of child abuse and 16,000 children were known to be in out-of-home care in 2008/9. The Minister acknowledged the government’s failure to protect children resulting in some “very, very real tragedies” including fifty-seven child deaths resulting from maltreatment119. Thirty of these children had previously been reported to child protection services for being at risk of harm. In his report to Parliament, the Ombudsman showed that many of the mothers of the dead children had themselves been reported to the department as victims of abuse in childhood and abuse was intergenerational. In one case the dead baby’s mother was herself a child in the care of the state. Four times more males than females were involved in these children’s deaths120.
In 2011, Ombudsman Bruce Barbour published a scathing report saying that it was inconceivable that a strong welfare regime would be delivered in the near future. The report reviewed the first 12 months of the “shake-up” and showed that in 2010-2011, fewer children and families received face-to-face assessments, despite the significant fall in demand following the recommendation to lift the reporting threshold. Twenty-five percent of reports assessed by Community Services as requiring some intervention had received no response. Reports about high-risk older children and adolescents, and habitual school absenteeism received a very low level of response. Sue Richards, CEO of NSW Family Services, said outcomes for vulnerable children wouldn’t change while “we keep doing the same things … For years we have been stuck with a system that is very process driven and which gives scant attention to outcomes for children. That 79 percent of reports of children being at risk of significant harm do not lead to the child being seen should have us not only very, very worried, but also ashamed”.
Clearly more attention must be given to the prevention of abuse and neglect given that statutory child protection services are failing to provide protection after abuse has occurred121.
The National Child Protection Framework
In November 2007 the Coalition of Organisations Committed to the Safety and Wellbeing of Australia’s Children was established to develop a National Framework for Child Protection. The Coalition comprised 63 managers of not-for-profit organisations and a few academics. The first draft was released for comment in April 2008. While Google had 760,000 references to child sex abuse in Australia, the problem was reduced to half a sentence advising the Minister that: “It is critical that the Framework address the issues of reducing sexual exploitation …”
The author alerted Minister Jenny Macklin to this omission and the final copy of Protecting Children is Everyone’s Business: National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2020 included raising awareness of exploitation and cyber abuse; developing community awareness initiatives such as White Balloon Day; early intervention for children who exhibit sexually inappropriate behaviours and interagency planning to tackle child sexual assault in Aboriginal communities. Shortly afterwards, Victoria’s County Court Judge Michael McInerney banned White Balloon Day in a country town under an unprecedented court order, although that day was part of the national Child Protection Week launched by Minister Macklin. The extraordinary order prohibited “from this day forward” the display or distribution of posters and white balloons in support of the cause. Police seized them from hotels, shops, offices and cafes and a woman was arrested for non-compliance. The explanation for the judge’s extraordinary action was said to be his fear that educating the public about child abuse might influence a jury involved in the trial of a man facing child sex charges122.
Other Framework recommendations were to:
strengthen the capacity of families to support children (without saying how this could be achieved)
provide community education
implement mechanisms for involving children and young people in decisions affecting their lives
integrate services for children and families
develop information sharing between Commonwealth and State/Territory agencies and NGOs working with vulnerable families
ensure consistency of support and services for all children and families
enhance services for vulnerable children and families
provide priority access to child care services for vulnerable children
enhance alcohol and substance abuse initiatives
enhance programmes to reduce family violence
increase services and support for people with mental illness
provide housing and services for homeless families
increase services to identify children at risk
enhance access to support for victims
support grandparent, foster and kinship carers
improve support for young people leaving care
support national consistency and improvement in child protection services
expand access to indigenous services
promote the development of safe and strong indigenous communities
ensure that indigenous children receive culturally appropriate services and care
The Framework made no mention of the very obvious need for a national child protection school curriculum at a time when only New South Wales and South Australia had them. It failed to mention the need for national definitions and national legislation relating to reporting child abuse. There was no reference to the need to reform the criminal justice and family court systems to better protect children and the very complex subject of child sex abuse was dismissed in one-and-a half pages.
Chapter 2 – References
1 Parton, N. (1985), ‘The politics of child protection’, in The politics of child abuse, Palgrave Macmillan.
2 Costin, L. B., Karger, H. J., & Stoesz, D. (1997), The politics of child abuse in America, Oxford University Press.
3 Krugman, R. (1999), ‘The politics’, Child Abuse & Neglect, 23 (10), pp. 963-967.
4 Glaser, W. (2005). McDermott’s interview with Dr Bill Glaser. ABC Four Corners, 23 May 1997 ‘Paedophilia: the public health problem of the decade’, in M. James (ed), Paedophilia: policy and prevention. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 1997 (Research and Public Policy Series, No. 12).
5 Pearsall, R. (1983), The worm in the bud, Harmondsworth, Penguin.
6 Rush, F. (1980), The best kept secret, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall.
7 Masson, J.M. (1985), The assault on truth, Harmondsworth,