Page 1607 - Week 05 - Thursday, 15 May 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
We know and recognise that the challenge is great. We know that outcomes for children and young people who enter care are often poor, all around the Western world. Children formerly in care are significantly overrepresented among the unemployed, the homeless, prisoners, the parents of children in care and those who experience mental illness. Recent advances in neuroscience reveal how early trauma affects the developing brain and can, if untreated, affect lifelong development and adjustment.
That is why I was pleased to announce last year budget funding for a trauma recovery service for children and young people in care. This service has been in development under the leadership of an expert steering committee and will be operational in July this year, as planned.
Children and young people experience trauma as a consequence of abuse, neglect, abandonment or bereavement that led to their entry to care. They can then suffer more trauma from the loss of familiar environments and relationships as they enter care. This government is committed to developing an out-of-home care strategy that responds to these challenges.
The proposed policy has the following aims: to stem the number of children entering care wherever possible through supporting the highest risk parents; to provide a trauma-informed therapeutically-oriented service system which will improve life outcomes for children and young people in care; and, wherever possible, to move children and young people from care into permanent alternative families as quickly as possible.
The proposed policy directions are centred on the right of all children and young people to be loved, feel secure and to have what is considered a “normal” life. This makes finding alternative permanent placements for children and young people who cannot safely return home—either through adoption or through an enduring parental responsibility order—a priority.
We are putting the needs of the children at the heart of this approach. Each child and young person entering care would have a comprehensive developmental and psychological assessment by a team of skilled therapeutic assessors. These assessments and plan would be reviewed annually.
In addition to recasting the system as a trauma-informed service system, three streams of reform activity are also proposed. The first is to strengthen high-risk families by providing intensive, practical in-home support to struggling parents when they first come to the attention of Care and Protection in order to keep children with their parents. There will be a strong emphasis on timely decision-making, especially for infants and young children. Research in the last two decades shows how important it is to secure early attachment for a child’s physical, cognitive and emotional development.
I will consider the introduction of legislative amendments to shorten the maximum length of initial orders from two years to one year where the child is aged two or
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video