Page 4502 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
In Family B, elderly kin were caring for six children without any support or assistance … The caseworkers’ role is limited by the layers of bureaucracy which distance the caseworker from the child and family, and can lead to frustration, feelings of disempowerment and bureaucratic mix-ups.
From page 31:
… CPS was aware of the risks in using an agency that was not a “suitable entity” in this manner, the history speaks for itself. It is disingenuous to state that NBSS were only used when there was “no-one else” when this occurred with twenty-four children.
This occurred 24 times. From page 33:
… investigations reveal that CPS fell short of its own responsibility and commitment to visit children, provide reports etc. The most serious concerns remain that over and above the poor quality accommodation, CPS was not checking whether NBSS could or was providing this service to the standard required and Barnardos when involved did not view this as an aspect of the case management role.
It goes on and on. We have the most damning report one could imagine. We have a minister who knew months ago and a government that knew years ago that these things needed to be fixed. Years ago we were told they were fixed. Years ago they breached the law and we were told it would never happen again. It has happened again and it continues to happen again. It happened 24 times. It happened over and over again—24 times that we know about, as a result of just one interim report.
Finally from the report, from page 36:
… the practice of using NBSS in this manner had gone on for over a year—what other options had been investigated in that time? What other strategies had been implemented to develop and increase capacity in Out Of Home care in the ACT community? It seems as though using NBSS was an easy option for those children in the “too hard to place” category.
This minister cannot claim ignorance. She knew. The breaches in the current report happened 24 times. Today on radio Ms Burch stated that she became aware of problems at the end of July. The problems continued through August. She became aware in July. It continued in August and she did not act until September when the whistle was blown. That is how this minister has dealt with it.
She knew about it. This government knew years ago that there were problems. They clearly have not fixed them. This minister was aware in July of the most recent problems. In August these problems continued. In September, when the whistle is finally blown, the minister says, “We are going to do something about it; we will call in the Public Advocate because it has been publicised,” because she has been found out and the department and the government have been found to be letting down these vulnerable children.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video