Kept in the dark on child protection
Joe Tucci and Chris Goddard
November 3, 2010
The bureaucracy hides the awful truth about a system in meltdown.
STAND up and walk down your street. Stop outside the house of someone you do not know. Open the gate and walk up to the front door. Ring the door bell.
As you wait, be aware of your environment. Can you hear a dog barking? Are there any empty beer cans in the garden? What if the person who answers the door is drunk or affected by drugs? What if a seven-year-old girl opens the door and tells you that she is alone and not sure when mum or dad will return?
Your heart has started racing. Your hands are shaking. You are nervous. You do not know what will happen next.
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The door is opened by a woman. Control your nerves and, as calmly as possible, give your name and the reason you are there. You are a child protection worker, you have received a report that her child has possibly been abused or neglected.
Watch her response. Look at her eyes. Will she become angry with you? Will she be reasonable? Will she let you in to talk about the report? Will she let you speak to or even see the child?
Do this once or twice every day. Every knock, a different story. Every door, a different child.
There are hundreds of such children across the state, children so abused and neglected that they need to be placed in foster care. Yet you know that there are not enough foster carers, very few residential care options.
Full story HERE
The Age: Joe Tucci and Chris Goddard, via phill Parsons
