Page 3993 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 25 November 2014
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The committee has a number of functions, including establishing a register of deaths of children and young people, identifying patterns and trends in relation to the deaths of children and young people, and determining research that would be valuable in this area. The role of the committee is not to apportion blame or identify any particular areas of underperformance but to identify what may be learnt from the circumstances of a child’s or young person’s death.
The committee is able to make recommendations about legislation, policies, practices and services for implementation by government and non-government bodies with the aim of preventing or reducing the number of deaths of children and young people in the ACT and improving services. In the past this has included producing fact sheets on matters such as unsafe sleeping practices for babies and co-sleeping. These fact sheets are publicly available and have assisted professionals working with families to deliver up-to-date, practical advice and support to promote safe sleeping practices and reduce the potential for premature death.
Today I table the third annual report produced by the committee. This year’s report provides an overview of data related to the deaths of ACT children and young people over a five-year period from 1 July 2009 to 30 June this year. The report does not make any recommendations and does not draw any particular conclusions. This year the committee’s report focuses primarily on the presentation of data and analysis relating to the deaths, as required by chapter 19A of the Children and Young People Act 2008, with the contextual information about the committee and its activities being available and regularly updated on its website, www.childdeathcommittee.act.gov.au.
In this period there were 153 deaths of children and young people recorded on the register, of which 114 were recorded as normally living in the ACT. Of these 114 deaths, five are awaiting coroner’s findings and will be included in subsequent annual reports. Accordingly, this year’s annual report provides information about the deaths of 109 ACT children and young people over a five-year period.
Key data and findings from these 109 deaths are as follows: between 2009 and 2014 the number of children and young people who died has been relatively static. There has been an overall decrease in infant mortality for both the ACT and Australia for the years 2009 to 2012. Males accounted for 63 of the 109 deaths. Sixty-six deaths were of children less than one-year-old—60.6 per cent—including 51 deaths that occurred in the neonatal period of less than 28 days of age, or 46.8 per cent. Sixty deaths were due to medical causes.
Eight children and young people who died were identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, or 7.3 per cent. Twenty-nine of the children and young people who died and/or their families were known to ACT Policing, and of these 29 children, young people and families, 16 were only known as a result of the death incident. None of the children and young people who died were known to youth justice services. Fifteen children and young people who died and/or their siblings were subject to a child protection report under section 360(5) of the act—13.8 per cent. This means that the Director-General of the Community Services Directorate suspected on reasonable grounds that the child or young person may be in need of care and protection.
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