Page 2563 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 5 June 2012
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However, the government acknowledges that the current system must be strengthened, and we accept the recommendations of the Public Advocate. We need to do better for our kids and to work on how we listen to and plan to meet the needs of children and young people whose families are unable to provide them with the care they need.
The government response to the Public Advocate’s report sets out the actions that will be undertaken to implement the recommendations. To this end, the government has committed an additional $21.25 million over the next four years to implement the following initiatives and to support the recommendations. $15-plus million has been committed to increase the number of out-of-home care placements, including residential, kinship and foster care. The government has also committed $5.3 million for additional care and protection staff to support the delivery of quality services. The investment will enable development of a comprehensive, evidence-based case worker toolkit which will support improved outcomes for families, children and young people. The government has committed to this initiative.
In addition, and in recognition of the shared risk factors for children in care and protection and in youth justice, the government has committed almost $5½ million over the coming four years to better support youth justice services, with a focus on community-based projects such as specialised therapeutic services and a mobile intensive support service. These additional resources will bolster the capacity of care and protection to continue the reforms that are already underway.
However, we should not expect that change will come quickly or easily. As the Public Advocate’s report itself notes, this is an incredibly complex environment. Care and protection is a human service, probably the hardest, most complex human service that any government can deliver and one that deals with people at their most vulnerable. The workers are continually confronted with extraordinary situations, may be exposed to traumatic events and are required to make extremely difficult decisions in order to ensure the safety of the child or young person. This is not easy work, Mr Speaker.
Case workers are confronted daily with some of the worst of human behaviour. They have to knock on the doors and talk to people about concerns that have been raised about their children. Sometimes they have to physically remove those children to a place of safety. While these decisions to protect children may be clear, we should not for a moment believe that this is easy or uncomplicated. Indeed, Dr Sue Packer noted:
I guess these reports are something which are going to continue to happen at intervals because the system is never going to be perfect.
We will not really be succeeding until we as ordinary citizens, as neighbours, as uncles and aunties and grandparents, do more as individuals to ensure that families in communities are not overlooked. That is in no way saying that this government will not step up to the plate and do what it needs to do to look after our most vulnerable, to look after those staff that work in the area or, indeed, to look after the carers that support these children.
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