Systemic Issues in Australian Child Protection Services Findings from the CDSMAC National Approach for Child Protection Project

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Systemic Issues in AustralianChild Protection
ServicesFindings from the CDSMACNational
Approach for Child Protection Project

• Dr Leah Bromfield, Manager
• National Child Protection Clearinghouse

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National Child Protection Clearinghouse

• Research, information, and advisory body for
  child abuse prevention, child protection and
  out-of-home care
• Services include
• Publications
• Website
• Library
• Help-desk advisory service
• Email discussion list
• Presentations
• The Clearinghouse also undertakes research

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Overview

• National snapshot
• International comparisons
• Modern approaches to child protection and their
  historical drivers
• Key challenges strategic directions
• Creating an integrated child protection system

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The national context

• In 2006-07, there were 309,517 reports to
  statutory child protection services nationally
• More than double the number of reports received
  5-years ago (137,938) and steadily increasing
• Of these, 58,563 were substantiated
• Emotional abuse (includes witnessing DV) and
  neglect most commonly substantiated maltreatment
  types

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2008
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Australia compared to other nations

• Notifications Rates per 1000 children

Key Data for the period 2003, 2004, 2005
Data courtesy of Kerry Lewig, Australian Centre
for Child Protection, University of South
Australia
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Australia compared to other nations

• Registered/substantiated cases Rates per 1000
  children

Data for the period 2005 Poor data quality
Data courtesy of Kerry Lewig, Australian Centre
for Child Protection, University of South
Australia
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Australia compared to other nations

• Children in Out of Home Care Rates per 1000
  children

Key Data for the period 2003, 2004, 2005
Data courtesy of Kerry Lewig, Australian Centre
for Child Protection, University of South
Australia
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Australia compared to other nations

• Broader wellbeing indicators
• Wealth
• Australias gross national income sits at approx.
  the median for OECD countries
• This is lower than the US, similar to the UK and
  Canada, and slightly higher than NZ

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Australia compared to other nations

• Broader wellbeing indicators cont.
• Education
• 31 of Australians (25-64 yrs) have a tertiary
  qualification 7th highest ranking in the OECD
• Rates in Canada and the US are slightly higher,
  NZ is roughly equal, and the rate in the UK is
  slightly lower

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Australia compared to other nations

• Broader wellbeing indicators cont.
• Work
• Australia had the 13th lowest unemployment rate
  in the OECD (5.4, 2004)
• Rates in NZ and the UK were slightly lower, and
  rates in Canada were slightly higher (between
  4-7)

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Australia compared to other nations

• Broader wellbeing indicators cont.
• Health
• Australia is ranked 5th in the OECD for life
  expectancy
• This is slightly higher than Canada, NZ, US, and
  the UK - but all are between 75 and 80 years

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Australia compared to other nations

• Broader wellbeing indicators cont.
• Crime
• 1.9 homicides in Australia per 100,000 people
• Australias rate is similar to the rates of other
  countries with a similar child protection
  orientation, with the exception of the US, which
  has a relatively high rate for a developed country

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Australia compared to other nations

• Broader wellbeing indicators cont.
• Life satisfaction
• Australias ranking on World Happiness Database
  was among the highest scores (7.3 out of 10)
• Countries such as the US, UK and NZ had similar
  levels of life satisfaction

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Australia compared to other nations

• Child protection data fell into two broad
  clusters
• Accurate incidence data?
• What does the broader social context tell us?
• What can we say about how Australia is positioned?

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Critical events in the evolution of child
protection services

• Late 1800 early 1900s Child rescue movement
• 1940s Start of professionalisation of child
  welfare
• 1962 Battered child syndrome discovered
• 1970s Legislation to protect children in all
  Australian jurisdictions
• 1970s First mandatory reporting requirements
• 1980s Sexual abuse recognised on world stage
• 1990s Neglect re-discovered
• 1990s Emotional abuse starting to be recognised
• 2000s Witnessing family violence

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Community perceptions

• Rising awareness within the community about
  maltreatment
• Shift in social values elevating standards of
  parenting
• Broadened concept of where childhood starts and
  ends
• Privileging of expert over family and community
  in preventing and responding to child abuse
  neglect
• Child protection primarily responsibility of one
  government department

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Science and social work

• Science and technology in practice risk
  assessment tools, computers
• Implication that abuse and neglect can be
  reliably predicted
• Criticism if wrong decision made
• eg, media attention child deaths
• Risk management approaches evident

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• Risk Management Approach
• Focus on risks
• Focus on symptoms (child abuse and neglect)
• Short-term
• Deficit focus
• Adversarial
• Crisis response (tertiary)
• Documentation
• Case management

• Therapeutic Approach
• Focus on needs
• Focus on causes (holistic approach to family)
• Long-term
• Strengths focus
• Empowerment
• Preventative (secondary)
• Engagement
• Case work

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Reviews of the service system

• Reviews tended to focus on how the department
  was performing
• Recommendations for service improvement
• increased training
• increased procedures/documentation
• Recommendations for enhancing detection tended to
  result in net widening (screen in more cases)

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Child protection and families in need

• High numbers of notifications
• Large administrative burden for processing these
• Total reports comprise relatively small number of
  children who need a child protection response
• Majority of families reported are in need and
  likely to be re-referred if no preventive action
  is taken

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External
Referral pathways into secondary services
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The role of child protection

• With a wide net, left with the fundamental
  question What is the role of child protection
  services?
• Originally set up to provide a crisis response
• Crisis response not working for families in
  need
• Still need forensic and court responses

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A time of reform

• Significant reform agendas have been or are being
  implemented across Australia
• Between 2002-2006 every jurisdiction embarked on
  a substantial reform agenda
• reforms to practice frameworks
• new legislation
• dedicated child protection departments

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Why change? Drivers for reform

• Dated legislative and practice frameworks
• (e.g., WA legislation from 1940s)
• Self-initiated research and review
• (e.g., Victoria killer statistic)
• External inquiries
• (e.g., Queensland CMC Inquiry)

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Approaches to reform

• Broadly, two types of reform planned vs.
  responsive reform
• Responsive more likely than planned to
• occur in the public/media spotlight
• be implemented quickly
• Media scrutiny may influence reform direction or
  pace
• May be a combination of planned responsive
  reform (e.g., WA)

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Characteristics of reform

• Governments taking a lateral approach to reform
• Reviewing the structure of the whole service
  system (not a single department)
• Role of government
• Way in which services (primary, secondary
  tertiary) are delivered
• Broad approach to review and reform reflects
  holistic approach to identifying key challenges
  for child welfare in Australia

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Key challenges for enhancing the protection of
children in Australia

• Demand for statutory services at the front end
• Building prevention services (esp. for families
  in need)
• Enhancing and monitoring practice consistency and
  quality
• Reforming policy and practice frameworks and
  implementing reforms
• Recruitment and retention of a skilled workforce
• Implementing and enhancing culturally appropriate
  interventions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait
  Islander children and their families, and
  services to assist preventing their
  over-representation in statutory care and
  protection services

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Key challenges for enhancing the protection of
children in Australia

• Provision of a quality out-of-home care service
• Breaking down silos (b/w dept., NGOs,
  practitioners)
• Families with multiple complex problems (esp.
  parental substance abuse, DV, mental health and
  chronic re-entry)
• Provision of the necessary tools for staff to
  perform their respective roles (e.g. information
  systems)
• Community education (i.e.,managing community
  expectations of CP dept., CP is everyones
  responsibility)

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Strategic directions in service provision and
policy reforms

• Broadly, state and territory departments were
  directing reform to those areas identified as key
  challenges
• Multiple strategies were being implemented to
  address critical challenges
• Reflecting the focus on joined-up solutions for
  joined-up problems
• Strategies and directions were generally
  inter-related and
• Individual strategies targeted several different
  key challenges

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Strategic directions in service provision and
policy reforms

• Major reforms under six themes
• An integrated service system
• Quality services
• Practice principles
• Providing an Indigenous response
• Quality out-of-home care
• Evidence-informed policy and practice

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Creating an integrated service system

• Two major themes evident in the response from
  every Australian jurisdiction
• One minor theme evident in responses from some,
  but not all, jurisdictions
• Some issues that did not fall into the themes,
  pertained to local needs priorities
• Safe at Home, family violence (TAS)
• Indigenous Affairs (NT)
• Despite some differences in framing of plans,
  broad intent very similar across jurisdictions

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Themes

• Major theme 1 A shared responsibility
• Child welfare is a whole-of-government,
  whole-of-community, interagency responsibility
  Quotes
• Major theme 2 Strengthening families and
  communities
• Childrens safety and wellbeing is enhanced when
  services are available to strengthen families and
  communities Quotes
• Minor themes Early years
• A focus on intervention in the early years

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Theme 1 A shared responsibility

• The involvement of other government agencies is
  essential in improving outcomes for children and
  young people. (NSW)
• The health and social issues faced by the NT
  needs to be addressed by government in its
  entirety, in partnership with the community. (NT)

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Themes

• Major theme 1 A shared responsibility
• Child welfare is a whole-of-government,
  whole-of-community, interagency responsibility
  Quotes
• Major theme 2 Strengthening families and
  communities
• Childrens safety and wellbeing is enhanced when
  services are available to strengthen families and
  communities Quotes
• Minor themes Early years
• A focus on intervention in the early years

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Theme 2 Strengthening families and communities

• There is the right mix of places, professionals
  and high quality programs to meet the changing
  needs of children and families, to provide
  opportunities, promote positive outcomes,
  intervene early and prevent harm. (VIC)
• Prevention and early intervention are vital
  components of the service system required to
  reduce the risk of harm to children. (NSW)

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Themes

• Major theme 1 A shared responsibility
• Child welfare is a whole-of-government,
  whole-of-community, interagency responsibility
  Quotes
• Major theme 2 Strengthening families and
  communities
• Childrens safety and wellbeing is enhanced when
  services are available to strengthen families and
  communities Quotes
• Minor themes Early years
• A focus on intervention in the early years

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Facilitating the whole-of-government agenda -
mechanisms

• Funding mechanisms
• Political and departmental structure (e.g., a
  Minister for Children/Child Safety)
• Inter-ministerial committees and ministerial
  advisory committees
• Strategic plans at national level (i.e., the COAG
  early years agenda)
• Strategic plans at state/territory government
  level
• Strategic plans at departmental level

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Facilitating the whole-of-government agenda -
mechanisms cont.

• Legislation to set strategic vision
• Inter-departmental committees and senior
  officers groups
• MOU between departments, agreements between
  government and non-government agencies, shared
  responsibility agreements
• Cross-agency initiatives, government taskforces
  and multi-disciplinary service coordination
• Strategic liaison positions, Commissioners and
  other child advocates

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Joined-up responses at the operational level

• Funding mechanisms
• Legislative mechanisms (e.g., require services to
  be provided)
• Interagency guidelines protocols (e.g.,
  information sharing, guidelines for working
  together, and case planning requirements)
• Joint response and interagency teams
• Operational Senior officers, Interagency and
  interdepartmental groups

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Joined-up responses at the operational level

• Operational liaison positions (geographic and
  departmental)
• Priority access to services
• Strengthening relationships with non-government
  agencies
• Local strategies (e.g., local manager role to
  build interagency relationships, joint training,
  training for professionals in relevant other
  sectors, and management/service system structure)

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• National Child Protection Clearinghouse
• Australian Institute of Family Studies
• Level 20, 485 La Trobe Street Melbourne
• 03 9214 7862
• www.aifs.gov.au/nch
• This presentation can be downloaded
  fromwww.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/presentations/diary