Page 60 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 12 February 2019
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MRS JONES: Minister, has the number of people discharged onto the street increased since the program to replace the ligature points in the facility began?
MR RATTENBURY: I have no concept why Mrs Jones has linked those two matters. I am happy to seek data on the first half of the question. I am not sure what the point is she is trying to make and I am not aware of anything that speaks to the trend she is attempting to suggest.
Children and young people—protection
MRS KIKKERT: My question is to the Minister for Children, Youth and Families. Minister, the ACT government in 2010 undertook a tender for a therapeutic protection place, as outlined in the Children and Young People Act. That tender failed. As a result, ACT magistrates have spent the past 14 months repeatedly having to choose between locking up an 11-year-old—now 12-year-old—girl with complex needs in Bimberi—which the court has said is no place for a vulnerable child—or releasing her back into the community knowing that she will again assault her carers. Minister, what specific steps has this government taken between 2010 and now to provide a therapeutic protection place for the children who desperately need it?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mrs Kikkert for the question. This is a very complex issue, as so many are in this space. I can assure members in this place, as I have the public, that the Community Services Directorate works very hard to manage the behaviours of children who pose a risk to themselves and others, through close collaboration with mental health services and other therapeutic treatment providers.
The directorate seeks not to use restrictive practices in response to behaviours of concern, and follows a formal positive behaviour support framework. The Community Services Directorate does provide individualised therapeutic responses for each child. I think this goes to the heart of the matter that Mrs Kikkert is getting to. These involve wraparound therapeutic care teams that work closely with the child, their family and/or carers to ensure that appropriate supports are in place. That includes managing the safety of children and the community.
In that context I think it is really important that we understand that the therapeutic protection place that is envisaged in the Children and Young People Act 2008 is not considered to align with best practice in trauma-informed support for children and young people. The therapeutic protection orders involve a place of confinement for a child at a therapeutic place for a period of time.
We are talking about very small numbers of children and young people. We are potentially talking about confinement of one or maybe two children—maybe two children who it would not be appropriate to have in contact with one another—in a place of confinement. That is not considered to be the best therapeutic response. Indeed, in the most recent article in relation to this matter, there was mention made that the young person had indicated that they wanted to return to Bimberi because there were other young people there. This is a very complex matter.
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