Dr LIM - 2007-06-21
We all agree that protecting children from sexual and physical abuse is one of the most serious and important responsibilities of government. Part of the Territory government’s response is to have the Child Protection Service investigate reports of child abuse. I am sure you know that Child Protection divides reports of abuse into three categories: a child in danger, to be investigated within 24 hours; a child at risk, to be investigated within three days; and a child of concern within five days. Can you tell the House what percentage of children in the category of child at risk and child of concern involved serious abuse?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Greatorex for his question. The member for Greatorex is aware that we have put enhanced categories into the budget reporting system this year. First and foremost, we have had an overwhelming increase in the notifications coming into our system of child at risk. I say thank very much to our intake team who process those notifications. They are our most experienced child protection workers in the system. We take that intake role seriously because they are the frontline who have to categorise the level and swiftness of the investigation. They are able to be there and able to be reformed because we have taken the Child Protection budget from $7.8m when the CLP was in government to $35m. We inherited the child protection system …
Mrs Miller: Please do no go down that path. You are going to be embarrassing.
Ms LAWRIE: I know the member for Katherine does not want to hear this, but this is the reality. We inherited a child protection system that was on its knees and we have been building that system. Today, we have a highly professional, capable intake team.
On page 137 of the Budget Paper, it gives very detailed notes explaining the new performance measures. Those performance measures are in line with the national reporting system. Performance measures point out that every notification – and I want to stress this because the member for Greatorex likes to pretend that it is otherwise – is looked into and responded to. Every notification, as I said, is assessed by our most experienced FACS staff. It is a specialist intake unit.
When there is any suspicion that child abuse may have occurred, then a full investigation is conducted. The estimate for this financial year, 2006-07, is that 1250 investigations will have been conducted; remember we are nearing the end of that year. This is the highest number of investigations in the history of the Child Protection Service in the Territory. The performance measures outline the number of notifications where an assessment of a notification resulted in alternative action being taken. That is, the estimate is that there will be about 1500 notifications that will be dealt with by other means. For example, there will be a referral to a Family Crisis Intervention Service.
Over the last three years, the percentage of notifications that lead to investigation is about 50%. This compares favourably, for example, with 51% in 2001 when the CLP was in government. That is not an extraordinary figure; it is quite a normal figure. Removing children from their families by Child Protection is a last resort, but we make very clear that we do that when it is justified to protect the safety of the child. For example, in 2006-07, we had 280 children enter the care system and over the course of the year, some 480 children required care.
Prior to the Martin government’s annual reports and Budget Papers, they did not previously advise on responses to child abuse notifications beyond saying that 90% of cases would be looked at within 28 days. We have now included reporting categories and the notifications to which we respond in one day, three days and five days. In relation to the three and five day categories, the realistic estimate that responses will be provided on time are 80% and 70% respectively. That is, we are not saying they will not be responded to, but we are realistically saying that within the lesser risk categories, not the highest risk categories which are responded to within one day, 80% are responded to within two days and 70% within three days.
That is the reality of child protection systems right around Australia. We all wish we had a magic wand to wave when it comes to child protection. We have a comprehensive report here, Little Children are Sacred, which tells us of the myriad of things that it takes to protect a child in our community. I am incredibly proud of the hard work of our Child Protection workers in the Northern Territory. They have been climbing a mountain that is the result of decades of CLP neglect.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Greatorex for his question. The member for Greatorex is aware that we have put enhanced categories into the budget reporting system this year. First and foremost, we have had an overwhelming increase in the notifications coming into our system of child at risk. I say thank very much to our intake team who process those notifications. They are our most experienced child protection workers in the system. We take that intake role seriously because they are the frontline who have to categorise the level and swiftness of the investigation. They are able to be there and able to be reformed because we have taken the Child Protection budget from $7.8m when the CLP was in government to $35m. We inherited the child protection system …
Mrs Miller: Please do no go down that path. You are going to be embarrassing.
Ms LAWRIE: I know the member for Katherine does not want to hear this, but this is the reality. We inherited a child protection system that was on its knees and we have been building that system. Today, we have a highly professional, capable intake team.
On page 137 of the Budget Paper, it gives very detailed notes explaining the new performance measures. Those performance measures are in line with the national reporting system. Performance measures point out that every notification – and I want to stress this because the member for Greatorex likes to pretend that it is otherwise – is looked into and responded to. Every notification, as I said, is assessed by our most experienced FACS staff. It is a specialist intake unit.
When there is any suspicion that child abuse may have occurred, then a full investigation is conducted. The estimate for this financial year, 2006-07, is that 1250 investigations will have been conducted; remember we are nearing the end of that year. This is the highest number of investigations in the history of the Child Protection Service in the Territory. The performance measures outline the number of notifications where an assessment of a notification resulted in alternative action being taken. That is, the estimate is that there will be about 1500 notifications that will be dealt with by other means. For example, there will be a referral to a Family Crisis Intervention Service.
Over the last three years, the percentage of notifications that lead to investigation is about 50%. This compares favourably, for example, with 51% in 2001 when the CLP was in government. That is not an extraordinary figure; it is quite a normal figure. Removing children from their families by Child Protection is a last resort, but we make very clear that we do that when it is justified to protect the safety of the child. For example, in 2006-07, we had 280 children enter the care system and over the course of the year, some 480 children required care.
Prior to the Martin government’s annual reports and Budget Papers, they did not previously advise on responses to child abuse notifications beyond saying that 90% of cases would be looked at within 28 days. We have now included reporting categories and the notifications to which we respond in one day, three days and five days. In relation to the three and five day categories, the realistic estimate that responses will be provided on time are 80% and 70% respectively. That is, we are not saying they will not be responded to, but we are realistically saying that within the lesser risk categories, not the highest risk categories which are responded to within one day, 80% are responded to within two days and 70% within three days.
That is the reality of child protection systems right around Australia. We all wish we had a magic wand to wave when it comes to child protection. We have a comprehensive report here, Little Children are Sacred, which tells us of the myriad of things that it takes to protect a child in our community. I am incredibly proud of the hard work of our Child Protection workers in the Northern Territory. They have been climbing a mountain that is the result of decades of CLP neglect.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016