Department of Families, Fairness and Housing slammed for failing to properly train state care staff

The training given to state care providers has been blasted as “inadequate” after a provider tasked with caring for a girl charged with murder was accused of fraud and neglect.

A care provider tasked with looking after a 12-year-old girl accused of murder has remained tight-lipped over a slew of fraud and neglect allegations amid calls to tighten training standards in Victoria’s troubled state care system.

The renewed push for stricter training protocols comes after the Herald Sun on Tuesday revealed that the business, which cannot be named for legal reasons, was being accused of giving its staff fake training certificates from an education provider that did not exist.

Police at the scene in Footscray where a woman was found dead. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

That allegation followed submissions to the NDIS’ complaints body which detailed claims of children not having enough food to eat and young people engaging in inappropriate relationships with each other.

In the wake of the claims, Commissioner for Children and Young People Liana Buchanan lashed the Department of Families Fairness and Housing’s (DFFH) “inadequate” oversight of care providers’ staffing levels and training provided to workers.

Commissioner for Children and Young People Liana Buchanan has slammed the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing. Picture: Jason Edwards

She said inconsistent training and a fluctuating workforce made up of casual staff stopped the state’s most vulnerable children from receiving higher standards of care when they became wards of the state.

“Quality of care is undermined by the common use of casual and agency staff, inconsistent training across funded agencies, and inadequate monitoring of agencies’ training and workforce capacity by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing,” she said.

“A safe standard of care also demands that care workers are supported by a range of clinical and other professionals.”

The 12-year-old girl at the centre of the murder probe into the violent stabbing of a 37-year-old woman in a Footscray apartment in November lived in housing provided by the provider at the centre of the claims.

She is understood to have fled her accommodation more than 275 times in three years and was being sexually abused.

The state care provider that housed the 12-year-old girl has had all children removed and rehoused. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

DFFH removed seven remaining children living in properties run by the provider following the alleged stabbing as federal authorities investigate the claims.

The company’s directors and representatives have ignored repeated requests for comment about the allegations.

Ms Buchanan said the commission’s long-running probes into state care showed children living in the system needed staff who were qualified specifically to work with young people with trauma.

“The fact is that most children in (state) care have experienced some of the worst trauma imaginable,” Ms Buchanan said.

“They need and deserve a high quality of safe and stable care; the numerous inquiries we have tabled in parliament indicate that, too often, that is not what they receive.”

Premier Jacinta Allan on Tuesday said she could not comment on the allegations made against the care provider because investigations into the alleged murder and the 12-year-old’s circumstances were ongoing.

Anyone with information about the allegations has been urged to contact Victoria Police.