Page 2017 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 June 2016
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country it seems as though it is every five years or so that one or more jurisdictions will embark on a new direction or introduce bold new procedures in an effort to protect children and young people from harm. This constant cycle of review and reform can be crisis driven and in response to a tragedy or a failure of the system or it can be proactive and forward looking or a combination of all of the above.
In the ACT we have had our fair share of tragedy, historically over the past 10 years and more recently, but the step up for our kids initiative seems to have been more in the proactive category of reform, and that is a welcome thing.
Focused primarily on out of home care, foster and kinship care and external service providers, the stated aims of these reforms are to support young people and their carers to have more stable placements, to acknowledge the invaluable insight that carers have into the personal and emotional needs of the young people and the fact that for many young people it is the community service providers that they turn to for care, support and ongoing engagement, not the Community Services Directorate or the ACT government for that matter.
The Greens have long called for increased recognition of the role of carers, be that kinship or professional or paid foster families. We believe that the decisions that affect children and young people must be in their best interests and that children and young people are entitled to express opinions and to have them taken into account by decision-makers, as appropriate for their age and maturity.
But we also believe that children without their family, including those who are unable, for their best interests, to stay in their family, are entitled to care and protection under government supervision. And that is what this bill and these broader reforms seem designed to achieve, a fine balance of rights and obligations for every person and every agency, including the government’s statutory services.
In supporting this bill I do not for a second believe that we are not heading into new territory, nor that we will not see further amendments or policy changes in the months or years ahead as the implementation really starts to take hold. But I do see the motivation and intent of the step up for our kids framework as a genuine attempt to change the business as usual paradigm and to positively work towards a community that sees fewer children abused, fewer young people in and out of home care and better long-term outcomes and trajectories for those that do require the protection of the government.
There are two particular points in this bill that I will put on the record that the ACTÂ Greens intend to keep a close eye on. These are the clauses that refer to transition plans and allowing the director-general to delegate to a responsible person the ability to provide protected information about a young person to the young person or adult. On both these issues there can be a highly complex relationship between young people in care and their carers and case managers and, sometimes, very fragile power imbalances.
In 2000 the CREATE Foundation began a process of surveying children and young people in care across Australia on issues and themes relating to their care and
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