Youth experts call for action to help thousands of Victorian kids with parents in jail

Youth advocates have accused the state government of ignoring a parliamentary inquiry that called for more support for kids with parents in jail.

Youth advocates say more needs to be done to support kids whose parents have been jailed. Picture: iStock

 

Youth advocates say kids with jailed parents have been “left in the dark” due to a lack of resources, accusing governments of ignoring pleas to create official agencies that could help thousands of kids.

It comes after a 2022 Victorian parliamentary inquiry into children with incarcerated parents recommended the state government set up a dedicated body to oversee support for children whose parents had been locked up.

But two years on from the inquiry and youth advocates, including Shine for Kids chief executive Julie Hourigan, say no progress has been made to help the “invisible” kids.

Youth advocates say an official body needs to be created to support kids with parents in jail.

Ms Hourigan — whose charity supports children impacted by the criminal justice system — said with no official body leading the charge for support, the affected children got “bounced around”, with the burden falling on ill-equipped families.

“It’s incredibly frustrating that in no jurisdiction in Australia is there any agency set up that has responsibility that is set up for these children so they just get between education, health, child protection,” she said.

“There is also no minister who has accountability to these kids, so it’s frustrating that you can’t point to someone whose job it is to make it better for kids with parents in jail.”

Ms Hourigan also said it was a “disgrace” there was limited data on these children who were not counted in any official statistics.

“(Creating an agency) is critical and it starts with the fact we don’t know how many kids have a parent in prison,” she said.

“These kids are not counted, there is no point from the point an adult is detained …. where anyone systematically asks if they have care of a child”.

SHINE for Kids chief exectuive Julie Hourigan. Picture: Supplied

The only figures have come from the inquiry which estimated each day there were about 7000 Victorian kids with a parent in jail — and about 40,000 nationwide — with the inquiry also recommending the government implement a “systemic data collection process”.

While the 2022 inquiry recommended the official body be created within the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Ms Hourigan said Shine for Kids was “very well placed” to help lead the charge.

“If the government wanted to pilot or test something, we are all in ... we are well placed to work with government to build and test a better solution,” she said.

It comes as a new Monash University study into children with jailed parents found there was a large reliance on informal support from extended family due to limited resources.

“It seems reasonable to conclude that families already struggling with limited resources and their own burdens will be unable to fully meet the needs of these children,” the report stated.

“Currently no Australian jurisdictions have a screening process to assess the unmet needs of children when their parent is imprisoned.”

A groundbreaking Monash University report found there was an over reliance on extended family to support children whose parents had been jailed.

The Monash report also highlighted a lack of guidelines for police on how to ensure a child’s emotional wellbeing during and after the arrest of a parent.

Lead Monash researcher Associate Professor Catherine Flynn said it was important police “pay attention” to anything which suggesting a child could be present during an arrest.

“Without any guidance for police they really just operate on their own experience,” she said.

“We found in our research that if those police officers had kids themselves they may notice a painting on the fridge or a bike in the driveway and they may ask (if the arrestee has kids) but that is never guaranteed.

“I’ve known of kids who have been left in cars or left at school or wandered home later on to find no one home.”

The 2022 inquiry also recommended Victoria Police introduce “child-sensitive arrest procedures”, such as identifying whether a child could be present during an arrest and working with arrestees for care planning of their kids.

A 2022 parliamentary inquiry recommended Victoria Police introduce child-sensitive arrest procedures.

A Victoria Police spokesman said police were trained to “consider a range of factors ... including the presence of any children” during an arrest.

“Appropriate arrangements are made for their care where necessary such as making contact with another parent or family member,” the police spokesman said.

“If a suitable carer cannot be found, Victoria Police makes contact with Child Protection.”

Dr Flynn said one of the most “powerful” messages from the kids themselves in the study — aged between 11 and 15 — was their desire to be informed about what was happening to their arrested parents while also being allowed to “be normal kids”.

“When you listen to kids talking about what they need it’s such a simple ask,” she said.

“They want people to understand something about their circumstances and a need to be connected to other day-to-day kid activities.

“It was a good reminder from these kids that just normal stuff is really important.

“We often try to protect kids but the job is how do we communicate things to kids that makes sense.”

One child in the study said adults should not “sugarcoat” their message when speaking about a parent going to prison.

“They try and tell you the story but they’re trying to cover half of it up, so like trying to make it seem like it’s not as bad as it is ... (they would say) ‘oh mum, she’s gonna (sic) go here, but like no, not bad reasons’ when it is for a bad reason,” they said.

A Victorian Government spokeswoman said the government knew “how important it is to those in prison to maintain family connections”.

“It promotes rehabilitation, helps people re-enter society upon release and reduces recidivism,” she said.

“That’s why we run programs like the Living with Mum program which allows some mothers in prison for low-risk offending to keep in contact with their kids.”

The content summaries were created with the assistance of AI technology, then edited and approved for publication by an editor.