Page 273 - Week 01 - Thursday, 13 February 2020
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And from a child:
They all could have had a meeting together to say you should not be treating kids like this.
In many ways, it is what we know: the importance of relationships, respect, building trust and cultural safety. And yet the insights provided are also much deeper and provide a strong evidence base for the steering committee’s final recommendations.
This has been a huge piece of work, and it has necessarily taken time. Throughout the review period, however, the steering committee has provided recommendations to the ACT government and directorates. There were 15 interim recommendations made as the review progressed. These were immediate opportunities for learning and change, and these have been accepted and are being implemented.
In finalising the review, a further examination of files was made for a sample of children known to CYPS as at 30 June 2019. This additional review sought to understand whether there had been any change in the practice and casework applied to these children since the commencement of the review and in response to these iterative recommendations. This analysis is included throughout the report and it shows that while there are promising changes to practice, there is still more work to do on a range of fronts.
I recognise the community’s frustration that change is not happening as fast as we would all like. But it is also important to acknowledge that change is happening.
The latest step up for our kids snapshot report data shows that 25 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children entered care in 2018-19, compared with 50 in 2017-18 and 59 in 2016-17. As a proportion of children entering care, this represents a reduction from 30 per cent to 20 per cent. Is this still unacceptably high? Absolutely it is. But for the first time in many years, our own data, and most recently the report on government services, show that the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people on child protection orders and in out of home care in the ACT is coming down. This is something the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community can take pride in, because they have driven this.
In announcing the review, I know there was scepticism from some that this would simply mean waiting two years for anything to happen. I stated at the time that this would absolutely not be the case, that we knew that urgent action was required. I was pleased recently to see that the changes already made to policy and practice have been recognised by SNAICC, the national voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. SNAICC’s latest review of ACT compliance with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander placement principle states that the ACT is now engaging with all elements of the principle.
Many people deserve credit for this: committed leadership within the Community Services Directorate; the staff in children, youth and families who have engaged with this work and faced up with courage to hard facts and new understandings of what it
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