Child protection crisis exposed as survivors of the system speak out

Victoria’s most vulnerable and traumatised children are being denied access to mental health services, leading to a crisis of poor health, violence and suicide. Now survivors are telling their stories in the hope it will lead to lifesaving changes.

Victoria’s most vulnerable and traumatised children are being denied access to mental health services, leading to a crisis of poor health, violence and suicide.

Survivors of the child protection system are now sharing their horror stories in the hope that the mental health royal commission will lead to lifesaving changes.

Maddie and Tash have shared their stories on their time in the child protection system. Picture Jay Town

A Herald Sun investigation can reveal:

— Child protection homes reported more than 450 cases of self-harm and attempted suicide from October to May, including 10 incidents involving children under 10.

— Children have been forced to spend months in psychiatric units because child protection placements will not accept them and hospitals have nowhere else to discharge them to.

— Half of the children locked up in youth justice jails have mental health issues. There were seven suicide attempts behind bars in 2017/18 and 15 serious self-harm incidents.

— Youth criminals found “unfit to plead” due to mental illness are not being kept in appropriate facilities despite the government being told to end the practice immediately two years ago.

In a submission to the commission, out-of-home care provider Berry Street warned the child protection system was failing to support the mental health of many in its care, compounding their struggles.

Berry Street chief Michael Perusco told the Herald Sun the system had to “step up and accept full responsibility” for the crisis.

Berry Street chief Michael Perusco. Picture: Supplied

“That means parenting in a way so that those young people can thrive, and that is not happening at the moment,” Mr Perusco said.

“We see it in the increased rates of suicide, we see it in the increased rates of kids going into prison, and that comes from not dealing with the issues that young people are facing early on.”

Do you know more? Contact [e-mail] and [e-mail]

A damning Auditor-General’s report revealed children in out‐of‐home care had up to five times the rate of mental health problems and more than double the rate of serious suicide attempts than other kids.

Children in out‐of‐home care are supposed to receive priority access to public mental healthcare under Victoria’s Chief Psychiatrist guidelines but the Auditor-General found some services were not even aware of the requirement.

The report said acute patients treated in psychiatric units often became “stuck” — some for up to six months — because they could not get a child protection placement when it was time to leave hospital.

Of 14 children who died in child protection in the last two years, carers failed to recognise the need for mental health referrals in 11 cases.

Victoria’s Commission for Children and Young People previously investigated the deaths of 26 children between 2007 and 2015 who were in the child protection system before they took their own lives.

It told the royal commission the child protection system “did not result in any effective intervention” despite “persistent and often serious harm experienced by these children”.

Almost all of the children, aged 13 to 16, had some contact with mental health services, 77 per cent had self-harmed and more than half had previously attempted suicide.

One child was taken to hospital 14 times in three years after five suicide attempts and nine “suicide ideation” incidents.

Mental Health Minister Martin Foley vowed to implement all the royal commission's recommendations, with money already invested in hiring 490 child protection practitioners.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews with Mary-Anne Thomas and Mental Health Minister Martin Foley. Picture: Alex Murray (AAP)

He said the government had identified the need “to improve our services for child and youth mental health, including by increasing prevention, early intervention and addressing treatment gaps”.

Royal Children’s Hospital behavioural paediatrician Dr Niroshini Kennedy said Victoria was failing to meet national guidelines requiring automatic mental healthcare for children entering child protection.

“Child and adolescent mental health services have to rationalise the limited resources, which really means a child has to have a psychotic illness or be suicidal before they will offer a service,” she said.

In four years, the number of Victorian children needing out-of-home care soared 41 per cent, with more than 10,000 children now in the system after suffering abuse, neglect and trauma — a number which could reach 25,000 by 2026.

Berry Street forecasts a $1 billion, four-year investment is needed to provide early intervention programs to families before children are put in danger.

“We have to be prepared as a community to make the investment that requires,” Mr Perusco said.

“There is a human cost to that — it is suicide and mental illness. There is a real financial cost as well.”

Opposition child protection spokesman Nick Wakeling said: “I call on the Premier to act, and protect these children that he has for too long neglected.”

Child protection system survivors are telling their stories in the hope that the mental health royal commission will lead to lifesaving changes.

TEACHERS, POLICE MISS WARNING SIGNS

When she was just 14 and feeling suicidal Alyssa began self-harming at school as a teacher found her bleeding.

Rather then get her help, the teacher sent her home.

Now 19, Alyssa is thankful to still be alive but faces a daily struggle to deal with her mental health that so many overlooked.

“The education system and all the other systems that interlock with mental health are letting children and young people down,” Alyssa told the Herald Sun.

“A lot of children and young people slip through the cracks. I have already lost so many people to suicide due to mental health and a lot of young people have to do it all themselves.”

Told she would “grow out” of depression at 12, Alyssa then went through homelessness before trying to take her life and eventually being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder while hospitalised at 15.

But even with a diagnosis and repeated hospitalisations, follow-up care was often a single phone call from a mentor because Alyssa had no adults advocating for her health.

“If you are experiencing homelessness you can’t have that regular person, you can’t have that regular GP, so how are you supposed to get your medication, how are supposed to get to the service?”

“It can be a really long waiting time to get into a psychiatric unit. When you are feeling suicidal you need to be safe, you need it straight away and can’t wait.”

“My first time in adult inpatient unit I had old men making comments about me and my body and I didn’t feel safe as a young girl.”

Tash and Maddie. Picture: Jay Town

‘I DIDN’T KNOW I HAD MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES’

Born into family violence, Tash was first placed into care when she was seven.

Living with severe trauma in a revolving door of residential care and foster Tash had nobody to look after her own health.

“It feels like they are babysitting you until you are 18 and your needs come second to them getting their pay cheque,” Tash said.

“Overall, the system is broken. You could scream out at the top of your lungs that you need mental health help but, unless the system changes, good luck getting it.”

“I didn’t know I had mental health issues,” she said.

“I did’t know any other way to cope.”

When she was 15 Tash became involved with Berry Street’s Take Two program and finally had her own health assessed, though she found getting consistent help a battle as she “exploded” regularly to cope with depression.

Soon after her brother’s death in 2014, another of Tash’s friends came onto the system’s radar — but was still being evaluated for help a month later when she also took her own life.

Now 23, Tash thanks an extremely rare intervention for her own survival — a devoted foster carer who came forward when she was 17 and agreed to care for her into adulthood.

“A lot of my healing did not happen until I was post 18,” Tash said.

“That was when I got to experience what a normal family was, and the possibilities of me not having to go back to something as abusive as where I came from.”

“If I hadn’t gone into that situation, where I got to experience love and get that support, I would be dead.”

ACCESS TO SERVICES TOO HARD FOR CHILDREN

Now 21, Maddie made it through Victoria’s child protection system battling mental and other demons, but is now more concerned for those who didn’t make it.

“We often get looked at as the lucky kid who got out of it, or told that we are so brave and we’ve done so well to get ourselves out — that is really disrespectful to others,” Maddie said.

“I lived with three other kids in rest care homes at any one time, so why am I the one who gets out?”

“Just because they did not get the same opportunity or one day they didn’t get to a doctor’s appointment.”

Maddie and Tash. Picture: Jay Town

“It’s not just about the happy story of us getting through things, we need to be addressing the problems of the ones who are still stuck.”

“I know people who have to be stark naked running down the road and laying down in the middle of the highway because they are having a complete breakdown and don’t know what to do. It shouldn’t have to come to that before people get help.”

Teachers had already flagged concerns about Maddie’s mental health before she was moved into residential care at 14.

But then Maddie had too many other things going wrong in her life for anyone to address the bipolar disorder she was finally diagnosed with years later.

Without parents for support, Maddie said simple hurdles such as a lack of money, missing documentation or transport made accessing health services insurmountable for children who died or ended up in the justice system as a result.

“I lived in residential care and theoretically there are services — there was always an education worker, there was always a drug and alcohol worker, there was always a legal aid worker — but then, when it comes to practical use, it is very different,” she said.

RELATED:

ONE IN TEN VICTORIAN YOUTHS SEEK MENTAL HEALTH HELP

CHILD PROTECTION STAFF STRUGGLE WITH WORKLOAD

CHILD ABUSE HOTLINE IN CRISIS AS CALLS UNANSWERED

“On the surface it looks like you have got all the access points, you have got all the services you need. But there are so many other little things that people don’t realise.”

“You can set everything up and say all the bases are covered, but then a kid is homeless and says ‘I have no means of transport’; some kid hasn’t got a Medicare card because he has family issues at home; his parents have split and can’t work out who has his birth certificate; or you have a kid who has mental health issues and isn’t aware of what is going on, so they can’t get to appointments because they don’t know what is wrong.”

“I don’t know how to fix it, but even if we just think about it.”

STORIES OF SURVIVAL

Alyssa, Tash and Maddie have shared their experiences with the royal commission and the Herald Sun as members of Y-Change, a group of young people with lived experiences of socio-economic disadvantage working for Berry Street to drive social, organisational and systemic change.