Education department failed on child abuse cases, Victorian Ombudsman finds

Victoria’s Department of Education fumbled two cases of child sexual abuse, failing to support the victims and giving inaccurate advice to the schools, a damning ombudsman report has found.

Victorian Ombudsman Marlo Baragwanath has found the Department of Education botched two cases of sexual abuse case.

Education Minister Ben Carroll has apologised to the children abused at a Victorian primary school more than a decade ago, admitting they were failed by the Victorian government.

“I am sorry,” he said after a damning Ombudsman’s report released on Thursday revealed systemic gaps in the Department of Education’s policies, procedures and practices in managing child sexual abuse.

It comes after two separate investigations into the two child abuse cases were carried out by the watchdog, one of which has already resulted in a civil payout from the department.

The report from Victorian Ombudsman Marlo Baragwanath found the department “provided inaccurate advice to the school to help it respond effectively and failed to support the children and their families when they most needed help”.

Ombudsman Marlo Baragwanath has made four key recommendations. Picture: David Geraghty

Among the damning findings was the fact that the parents of the child who was reportedly abused by a teacher in the playground were not notified at the time.

Despite another teacher reporting they witnessed the abuse, the teacher was allowed to continue teaching and abusing students and was only removed when the student came forward three years later.

The department also did not contact other parents or teachers to find out if there were other cases of abuse.

The department was found to be “unnecessarily legalistic and risk averse” and guided by legal risk, not “trauma-informed practice”.

Mr Carroll said the government had accepted the four recommendations from the Ombudsman, which include better support for child victim-survivors, their families, principals, and other affected parties, annual training for departmental staff, better co-ordination and annual reporting of sexual offences allegations.

Mr Carroll said: “The safety of students is my number one priority – there is more work to do but I am committed to continuing to improve the department’s response to reports of abuse and their support for victim-survivors and their families.”

The report recommended better support for child victim-survivors, their families, principals, and other affected parties, for child abuse allegations. Picture: Supplied

Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said the report “makes disturbing reading”.

“It defies belief that neither the school nor department informed the student’s parents about the staff eyewitness report or investigation,” she said.

“The Ombudsman makes clear that despite changes made by the department to date, more work is required to prioritise a culture of child safety at Victorian government schools. A complete overhaul of the child safety management process by the Department of Education is warranted because this must never be allowed to happen again.”

The Department of Education said it was “deeply sorry” and admitted that “there’s more work to do”.

The report said creation of the Conduct and Integrity Division and Sexual Harm Response Unit “should address most of the issues this investigation identified with the handling of the eyewitness report and subsequent disclosures”.

However, the Ombudsman said an outstanding issue was that schools and over-burdened principals needed more help to address sexual abuse allegations.

Originally published as Education department failed on child abuse cases, Victorian Ombudsman finds