On Child Safety…

Media release – Sarah Courtney, Minister for Children and Youth, 27 July 2021

Enhancing safety for Tasmanian children and young people

The Tasmanian Liberal Government recognises there is nothing more important than the safety and wellbeing of our children and young people.

Since 2014, the Government has taken strong action to improve the Child Safety System and improve outcomes for children, young people and families at risk.

The most important of these has been the implementation of our $51 million Child Safety Redesign – Strong Families, Safe Kids.

We are now seeing more support for families at risk than ever before, fewer cases referred for statutory child safety intervention and a decrease in the rate of children and young people entering out-of-home care.

In addition, our recently announced election commitments include $5 million to support new stable permanent family placements, $2.25 million to extend supports for Informal Kinship Carers and $2 million to provide priority access for children and young people to government services, supports and concessions.

Other important initiatives include:
*The introduction of the Advice and Referral Line (ARL), as the redesigned ‘front door’ to Tasmania’s family support, and child safety services.
*Introducing Intensive Family Engagement Services to help families on the brink of entering the statutory service system.
*Launching the Tasmanian Child and Youth Wellbeing Framework which promotes a shared understanding of child wellbeing.
*Providing over 40 additional positions to support the Child Safety Service including clinical practice consultants, support workers, training and liaison positions.
*In 2016 we established the Commissioner for Children and Young People Act giving independent statutory powers to the Commissioner including a systemic monitoring function specific to children in out-of-home care.
*In 2017 we established the Serious Event Review Team to examine serious incidents for children ‘known to child safety’.
*In 2018 we invested $24 million for the recruitment of 25 additional Child Safety officers and other frontline staff. This has brought our Child Safety Services establishment to over 250 full time equivalent staff.
*In 2018 we also established the Tasmanian Child Advocate to provide a greater voice to children in out-of-home care regarding the quality of their care, and the decisions made about them.
*In 2019 the Child Advocate established the Youth Change Makers – a consultative panel of young people with experience of out-of-home care, to provide their input on service system changes.
*In 2020 we introduced Aboriginal Liaison Officers into the Advice and Referral Line to facilitate increased participation of Tasmanian Aboriginal people in Child Safety decision-making.

Importantly, we have now developed a Strong Families, Safe Kids: Next Steps Action Plan 2021-23 which will continue the successful redesign work we have begun.

We are now turning our attention to the statutory Child Safety Service where we will improve how we engage with parents and families and build stronger oversight of our out-of-home care system.

A comprehensive review of the Children, Young Persons and their Families Act 1997 will also underpin many of our initiatives and will be completed over the next 12 months.

The Tasmanian Liberal Government is unwavering in its commitment to the safety and well-being of our children and young people.

More information can be found at: https://www.communities.tas.gov.au/children-youth-and-families/strong-families-safe-kids and https://tas.liberal.org.au/securing-tasmanias-future-ensuring-safety-and-wellbeing-children-and-young-people.

Sarah Lovell MLC, Shadow Child Safety Minister, 27 July 2021

Five years on Liberals still failing Tasmania’s most vulnerable children

The Gutwein Government’s is continuing to fail children in Tasmania’s child protection system five years after it introduced reforms it claimed would improve conditions.

Shadow Child Safety Minister Sarah Lovell said an evaluation by the University of Tasmania of the government’s Strong Families Safe Kids program launched in 2016 has shockingly found the reforms it was claimed would improve the system have still not been fully implemented.

Ms Lovell said the UTAS review made a series of recommendations that Minister for Children Sarah Courtney must give an undertaking would be implemented immediately to provide the best possible protection for children at risk of harm.

“The Liberals launched these reforms with great fanfare when it was revealed 2016 that vulnerable children were not being provided with care that was urgently required and it’s unacceptable that five years have passed and the promised changes have not been delivered,” Ms Lovell said.

“The child protection system must be properly resourced. The Liberal Government knows that data released by the Productivity Commission just this year showed children at risk of danger were not receiving immediate or even urgent care.

“Ms Courtney and Premier Gutwein know that Tasmania’s performance in child protection is the worst in the country.

“They know that up to 80 per cent of investigations by child protection take a month to even begin and they know the vast majority of investigations take three months to complete.

“That’s because they have continually failed to provide staff who undertake this very difficult job with the resources they require.

“Either the government does not place the importance they should be placing on child protection or they have little idea what they are doing – either way, that is unacceptable.

“There is no more crucial responsibility of any government than to look after the most vulnerable in our community and Ms Courtney is simply failing miserably in that area.”