Page 1021 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 30 March 2011
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The minister now needs to show real leadership. She needs to show that she and her department are committed to changing the practices at Bimberi, that they are not prepared to just accept that there are failures. They need to acknowledge those failures and openly work on ways to improve things.
Everyone knows that this is a very difficult area. We also know the importance of making the right decisions to prevent these young people from being caught up in the cycle of criminal behaviour. This cannot be overstated. The minister needs to be strong enough to accept the mistakes that have been made and be proactive in finding solutions and showing that she is serious about change, instead of just responding to particular incidents and trying to paint them in the best light possible.
The minister should write to every employee within DHCS to encourage participation in the inquiry and to ensure the employees have clear information about how they can participate in the inquiry. All employees should be comfortable participating in the inquiry. I am aware that the chief executive has written and the Executive Director of OCYFS has spoken to staff, but the minister must show leadership and write directly to people in her department.
Equally, she needs to ensure that there is a clear process for grievances to be aired, either to the commission or directly to her office, to ensure that there can be no allegations of impropriety by management or other employees of DHCS. Further, there needs to be no doubt that the minister will dismiss anyone found to have acted inappropriately.
The Children and Young People Commissioner is the independent authority that this Assembly has entrusted with the responsibility for protecting children and young people in our community and, most particularly, those children who come into contact with government services. The role of the commissioner is to consult with children and young people, resolve complaints and concerns about the services to them and to provide advice to government and community organisations in how to improve their service delivery.
An additional benefit of the current inquiry is that not only will it inquire into and report on recommendations for change within the youth justice system but also it is able to have ongoing oversight of the recommendations and their implementation. It is not something you get from a judicial inquiry; it is held and then it closes. In this case, the Children and Young People Commissioner and the human rights commissioner will be there into the future to ensure that whatever recommendations come out are vigorously followed and implemented.
All too often we see major pieces of work and research commissioned and recommendations made only to be put on the shelf and forgotten or not followed through. Bimberi and the youth justice system are too important for us to risk that type of outcome. It is critical that as part of this inquiry the commissioners will have a direct interest in seeing this work is followed up and real reform achieved for the staff and young people.
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