Paper
Reforming Child Protection Systems: policy considerations from an Australian perspective
- issue: Issue 2 / 2008
- authors: Robyn Miller, Chris Asquini
- keywords: Australia
- views: 5300
- downloaded: 1
- download pdf (65 Kb)
abstract
Background. In 2002 the State of Victoria, Australia embarked on major reform of its child protection system, culminating in new legislation that commenced in early 2007. Known as "Every Child Every Chance", this process of cultural reform was underpinned by a strong evidence base informed by a range of research and theoretical paradigms. This presentation will briefly describe the rationale and process of reform that was undertaken in Victoria 2002-2007 and then focus on two key considerations:
- the early outcomes of these reforms focussing primarily on their impact on levels of Victorian child protection system activity and comparable jurisdictions in Australia;
- challenges and opportunities in pursuing large-scale reform of child protection systems.
The paper has a strong connection with the key overarching conference themes including the evidence base for intervention and cross national perspectives for research, practice and policy.
Purpose. Victoria, population 5.1 million, has a well-established 'mixed economy' of child and family welfare provision, with child protection directly delivered by Govern¬ment and family services and out of home care services funded by Government and delivered by 'not for profit', community services organisations.
Just under 30,000 children and young people are reported to child protection authorities each year. Of these approximately 7,000 are assessed as at risk of significant harm. On any one day there are approximately 5,000 children in out of home care placements. By the early 2000s it was evident that increasing numbers of Victorian children were likely to be involved with the child protection system. On average, just under 1:5 Victorian children and young people will be reported to Child Protection during their childhood or adolescence.
At a policy level, there were significant concerns about the sustainability of existing approaches to tackling the problem of child abuse and neglect. As put by Professor Dorothy Scott, Director of the Australian Centre for Child Protection:
"Most of the statutory child protection services in Australia are in crisis. They are potentially harmful to the children and families they are designed to serve. The dedicated people doing this excruciatingly difficult work operate under hazardous conditions. Media moral outrage which erupts when children die or are hurt, and which politicises that which should be above politics, further weakens fragile services and exacerbates staff vacancies. In some States child protection systems are imploding. They have become like huge Casualty Departments unable to cope with a flood of referrals." (Scott, D, Address to Parliamentarians Against Child Abuse, Parliament House, Canberra, September 5, 2006).
In response to concerns of this nature, significant reform is underway in Victoria that represents a paradigm shift for protecting children from an exclusively forensic, episodic based approach towards a whole of community focus on improving outcomes for vulnerable children, young people and their families, and a more therapeutic approach to child protection practice and out of home care services.
The reform process was strongly evidence based drawing on a range of sources, principally:
- A comprehensive and rich set of client and service system data relating to children involved with the Victorian Child Protection system since 1992, that enabled detailed and longitudinal analysis of trends and outcomes for children involved with this system;
- Child development theory and neurological scientific work on the impact of trauma, abuse and neglect on children's brain development;
- Evaluation undertaken of key elements of the earlier intervention components of the Victorian reform process;
- Public health approaches to the problems of child abuse and neglect.
Key findings. Utilising an overarching ecological and systemic framework, a key feature of the reforms has focused on earlier intervention for vulnerable families. Built on a strong platform of universal services and increased funding and improved coordination of family services, the outcomes of the reforms to date have shown indications that repeated and growing involvement of families in the Victorian child protection services has stabilised in stark contrast to most other Australian jurisdictions.
Five years into the reform process, national data produced by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare indicates that over the last five years Victoria, in contrast to other Australian jurisdictions has been successful in arresting the growth in demand for child protection services. Specifically:
- Abuse and neglect notifications/reports increased by 2.8 per cent over the five year period (2001/02 to 2006/7) in Victoria, compared with 56 per cent nationally;
- In the same period, abuse and neglect substantiations decreased by 6.3 per cent in Victoria, compared with an increase of 45 per cent nationally.
Victoria now has amongst the lowest levels of child protection intervention when compared with other Australian jurisdictions. This has occurred in the context of significant additional public investment in a range of services designed to provide earlier support to vulnerable children and their families.
Work on producing qualitative evidence of the impact of these reforms is in its early stages and represents the next key step in the long term Victorian reform agenda.
A major finding is that the key to implementing research and evidence into practice is the strategic and meaningful engagement of politicians and decision makers in government. This requires the development of a compelling and accessible rationale is to catalyse major changes in funding and service provision, which is based on current research on the developmental needs of children and a comprehensive analysis of data within the child protection system. Successful outcomes to date in Victoria have been based on collaborative practice and a strong partnership with the non-government sector and universal services.
Key references
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2007). Child Protection Australia 2006-07. [Electronic Version]. Retrieved Febrary 6, 2008 from http://www.aihw.gov.au/
publications/index.cfm/title/10566.
Thomas, S. (2007). The Victorian Family Support Innovation Projects: Final Evaluation Overview Report. Monash University.
Contacts: Robyn Miller, Principal Practitioner, Children, Youth and Families Division, Department of Human Services, L9, 50 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia, E-mail: Robyn.miller@dhs.vic.gov.au, Phone 61 3 9096 0758; Chris Asquini, Director Community and Individual Support, Disability Services, Department of Human Services, Victoria, E-mail: Chris.asquini@dhs.vic.gov.au, Phone 61 3 9096 7190.