Kids In Distress

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Article originally prepared on : 30 January 2007

Many organisations are involved in the protection of children. While we fully acknowledge the difficult task that any persons in these jobs perform, often unselflessly and with great compassion, it is unfortunately the "nature of the job" that achievements in child protection go largely unreported, while those cases where children have not been protected are discussed at great length. The items on this page do focus on the failures of the system. Perhaps study of these can lead to reforms that will better serve our community and especially our children at risk.

Foster Carers Not Told of Horror Ordeal

The Macfarlanes believe their experience is typical of contact with bureaucrats. "They ignore evidence of sexual abuse, ignore evidence of neglect by family members, force children into contact with abusive relatives, fail to provide support services, use inexperienced and immature social workers, and postpone treatment of children to avoid incurring costs "

System ‘put parental right'before children's safety

VICTORIA'S child protection system had a culture of minimal intervention that favoured parents' rights over the safety of children. "Children are extraordinarily vulnerable yet for some reason we have the least scrutiny of what actually occurs," he said. "Any scrutiny tends to be minimalist and there is no independent scrutiny until the horror stories come before the courts." "I think some of the decisions of the Children's Court have been oriented too much towards parents' rights rather than the safety of children."

Rethink on sending home abused kids

THE policy of keeping families together at all costs by returning abused children to their natural parents may be abandoned in Queensland. Premier Peter Beattie.. ""..children are being abused by parents then parents should lose that right. "Too often the abuse is coming from parents and therefore clearly we have to look at what is in the best interests of the child. If that means being taken away from their natural parents then so be it."

Report on Foster Care

The Australian reported the case of an Adelaide couple who had one such child placed in their care, a 12 year old girl had been in foster care since the age of three, who suffered a horrible ordeal where she was raped by an intruder who also murdered her carer. The couple were not told of the child'sbackground by the department and had to deal with her behaviour, and informed by a junior social worker 'I've got a university degree, you don'tmake the decisions'.

Universities failing social workers and children

In recent weeksThe Australianhas drawn attention to the inappropriate behaviour of social workers towards children, leading at times to non-accidental child deaths.Recent national research showed that 73% of foster carers thought that the worst aspect of fostering was dealing with the department's workers, many of whom lack the knowledge needed to make sound decisions relating to traumatised children.How can you expect social workers to make wise decisions for the care and safety of children when their professional education focusses on social policy, social justice, communities, social engineering, social work theory and all from an adult perspective with nothing about their most important clients: children.

Save the children

The killing of a toddler and sexual abuse of his sister demand answers as to why parents are allowed to retain custody of children they fail to protect.

… why was Renae Lennon allowed to walk away from the Supreme Court in Sydney, still surly, resentful and apparently absolved of any responsibility for her children's miserable fate?

… why are government authorities who are charged with protecting children, rarely held accountable when at-risk children are left without help until they are physically broken, sexually degraded or dead?

Tragically, the case of Bianca and Jeremy Lennon is no aberration. In the year Jeremy died, so too did 83 other children known to the Department of Community Services in NSW alone. In 2004, the last year for which these type of figures are publicly available, 72 such children died.

Child agency failed 'thousands

THE death of a 13-month-old boy has highlighted the cases of 22,000 abused children failed by a government child protection agency.

Within months of his birth the infant suffered a skull fracture - but investigating DOCS caseworkers deemed no further intervention was needed. Six months later, another DOCS notification was issued when Robbie suffered unusual damage to his testicles.

But tragically, Robbie's case is not unique. If anything, his story is just the latest illustration of how beleaguered and dysfunctional the NSW Department of Community Services has become despite a $1.2billion funding boost in 2003.

Increase in child protection reports 'tragic

The NSW Department of Community Services (DOCS) says the number of child protection reports it handles has increased by more than 30 per cent in 18 months.

NSW Minister for Community Services Reba Meagher said DOCS received 64,880 child protection reports in the first three months of this year, up 30.2 per cent on the 49,840 in the September 2004 quarter.

Letters show how State failed to save baby

Government minister Sheila McHale wrote in 2002 that it was better to leave a young child in the care of serial baby basher Kriston John Scale rather than intervene, despite being given detailed information about his violent record by a distraught family member.

Letters obtained by The West Australian yesterday reveal for the first time the level of knowledge the then Department for Community Development minister had about Mr Scale's brutal treatment of small children.

Up until now Ms McHale, now Tourism Minister, has blamed the DCD for misleading her about the case of 11-month-old Wade Scale, who was found dead in a bathtub in July 2003 with adult sedatives in his body.

False child abuse complaints to social services against parents.

Where a professional is acting contrary to the wishes of a parent in a child protection matter, then at some stage the professional will require court orders. To obtain court orders the professional will invariably have the onus of proof.The parent will raise the allegation of malicious or negligent investigation as an argument to establish that the onus has not been met.

DoCS Research to practice Update

The Research to Practice Program provides an essential link between the latest research and DoCS staff. As part of this important initiative, the Research to Practice Update encompasses a broad range of research publications and resources to reflect the diversity of DoCS staff.This page is regularly updated, with current items of interest being:

* Parental empathy and child Maltreatment

* Spotlight on Safety – community attitudes to child protection, foster care and parenting

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