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Case for a National Approach to Child Protection

Calls for a concerted national approach to tackle child abuse and neglect in Australia have their origins at least as far back as the early 1990s, arising from concerns about the alarming number of substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect and of removals of children from their families.

These trends have continued to the present day. The number of occasions where authorities found that a child either was, or was likely to be, harmed, abused or neglected increased by 36% from 40,416 in 2002-03 to 55,120 in 2007–08. The number of children and young people in out-of-home care rose by almost 115% from 14,470 at 30 June 1998 to 31,166 at 30 June 2008. (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Child protection Australia 2007-2008: viii.)

Day-to-day responsibility for child abuse and neglect matters rests with the eight State/Territory Governments. Each jurisdiction has, over time, developed its own child protection laws, procedures and practices.

While there are many similarities in these laws and practices across jurisdictions, there are also important disparities. There is, for example, no shared nation-wide definition of what constitutes child abuse and neglect. Investments in early intervention and prevention, especially in targeted or secondary family support programs, differ across States and Territories. Remuneration of, and case support for, foster carers are different in every jurisdiction. Young people who are leaving the out-of-home care system receive different levels of support depending on which State/Territory they live in.

While not seeking to assume a role in day-to-day child protection case work (so-called ‘tertiary’ services), successive Federal Governments have, however, funded efforts which are either directly or indirectly aimed at reducing child abuse and neglect. They have, for example, provided major block funding to State/Territory Governments to support the provision of ‘universal’ services which are relevant to enhanced outcomes for families and children, such as in the areas of health and education. In addition, successive Federal Governments have supported initiatives such as the National Child Protection Clearinghouse (an Internet-based information and knowledge dissemination centre) and National Child Protection Week.

Against this background, proponents for a national approach have argued that it would enhance current service responses for children and young people and their families because it would:

• avoid duplication in investment and effort;
• facilitate the sharing of resources and innovation;
• improve comparability across jurisdictions;
• ensure that learnings are applied across all jurisdictions;
• enable a more ‘case managed’ approach for families moving across jurisdictions;
• reduce inequity in the way children and families are supported/assisted (although there is a continued recognition that service responses will need to take into account local needs);
• facilitate a more evidence-based approach to implementing policies, services and programs;
• facilitate cross-sectoral collaboration, in particular, including non-government/community-based services in the child protection agenda;
• take a short, medium and long-term approach to implementation; and
• form a possible basis for future Commonwealth-State agreements.

Advocacy for a national approach was heightened when, in June 2006, in response to a Senate Report on Child Abuse, the then Federal Government funded a gathering which became known as the National Child Protection Conference.

That Conference involved 75 leading Government and NGO representatives and academics and decided to draft a National Strategy for Child Protection. A multi-sectoral working group subsequently developed a draft Strategy entitled Towards a National Child Protection Strategy for Australia (click here for text), which was presented to the then Federal Government in 2006 and was also used as the basis for lobbying the then Opposition party.

A major development occurred in mid-2007 when, in response to advocacy by many NGOs and individuals, the then major Federal Opposition political party, the Australian Labor Party (ALP), decided to adopt the development of a national child protection framework as official party policy for the November 2007 Federal election.

Coalition established
In early November 2007, only three weeks before the Federal election, lobbying for a national approach on child protection intensified. An initial meeting of 22 NGO representatives and academics was convened in Canberra by Families Australia, with the aim of creating a group which would seek politically to advance the concept of a national framework. That gathering resolved to establish the Coalition of Organisations Committed to the Safety and Wellbeing of Australia’s Children, with the aim of working with Governments (Commonwealth and State/Territory) to develop the national child protection framework. More members were added to the Coalition over the ensuing months in an open-ended nomination process.

From the outset, the Coalition sought to engage Governments and communities in action to identify and implement sustainable solutions for the prevention of child abuse and neglect and improved child wellbeing as an urgent national priority. It made clear from the outset that it saw the following core elements as central to improving the safety and wellbeing of Australia’s children:

• A focus on prevention and early intervention.
• National targets and indicators of child wellbeing to drive improvement.
• Engagement of non-government organisations and communities in the development of sustainable solutions.
• Workforce development strategies which span public and private service provision.
• Evidence-informed policies based on a national research agenda.
• Evidence-based ‘social marketing/health promotion’ strategies specifically aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect and enhancing children’s wellbeing.
• Inter-Governmental approaches to ensure collaboration and maximisation of collective investments and intelligence.
• A Commissioner and an Office (within the Prime Minister’s Department) for Australian children and young people.