Vulnerable kids suffer as Neville neglects out-of-home care
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
· 10% INCREASE IN DEMAND FOR OUT-OF-HOME CARE IN PAST THREE YEARS
· MORE CHILDREN SHUFFLED AROUND WHILE IN OUT-OF-HOME CARE
Vulnerable children are being bounced around between carers and homes at alarming and increasing rates under Lisa Neville’s watch, adding to the trauma of abuse and neglect they already suffer, Shadow Minister for Community Services Mary Wooldridge said today.
Documents obtained through Freedom of Information (FoI) by the Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition reveal yet another crisis in Victoria’s child protection system under Minister for Community Services Lisa Neville.
Highly vulnerable children who can no longer live safely in their own homes are being exposed to further trauma and distress under the Brumby Government’s dysfunctional out-of-home care system.
The FoI data reveals that at 30 June 2009, 5,246 children were in out-home care, a 10.1 per cent increase since 2006.
Damning figures paint a shocking picture of the experiences of children who have exited the Brumby Government’s out-of-home care system in 2008/09:
- 25 children had 11 or more placements
- 417 children had three or more placements while in out-of-home care
- 152 vulnerable children who had been in care for less than one year had three or more placements
- This year 40 per cent of children who left out-of-home care had three or more placements, up from 36 per cent in 2006/07.
“As Minister, Lisa Neville has failed in her responsibility to ensure abused and neglected children have stability and a sense of safety in their lives,” Ms Wooldridge said.
In 2005, Ms Neville admitted that a sense of stability was vital for vulnerable children and said we need to move to a system that enables that child to have a stable environment.
“Five years on, out-of-home care in Victoria is in an appalling state and vulnerable children are suffering because of the Brumby Government’s inability to deliver real improvements,” Ms Wooldridge said.
“Lisa Neville has repeatedly failed in her portfolio responsibilities and failed the vulnerable children who depend on this government for their care and protection.”
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