Almost 100 reports of child exploitation of kids in state care in six months

Shocking data has revealed the extent of the state’s out-of-home care crisis, with almost 100 reports of child exploitation in just six months.

Liana Buchanan, the commissioner for children and young people, has detailed the extent of the out-of-home care crisis. Picture: Jason Edwards

Sexual predators have abused 56 children in state care in six months.

Data released to the Herald Sun by the Commission for Children and Young People ­revealed it received 96 separate reports of child exploitation from March to September this year.

Abusers have allegedly targeted dozens of the children more than once.

The reports relate to 56 children living in out-of-home care.

There were 96 separate reports of child exploitation in six months.

An 11-year-old child was the youngest reported victim.

The vast majority of reported cases are believed to ­involve youths living in residential care, despite those children making up just 5 per cent of the 9366 young people in out-of-home care.

Commissioner for Children and Young People Liana ­Buchanan said “significant under-reporting” meant the real number of cases could be up to five times greater.

She said in a small number of extreme cases it was understood that offenders deliberately targeted wards of the state by plying them with drugs.

Liana Buchanan said drugs were often involved. Picture: Jason Edwards

“These are predators sometimes who’re involved in networks of other predators who are sharing information about which children are vulnerable, about where particular residential care homes might be, and about how to find these vulnerable children,” she said.

This month, Truong Pham, 47, was sentenced to four years’ jail for raping a 13-year-old girl three times in 30 hours.

After the sickening assault last year, the girl texted her case worker saying the accommodation was “not safe at all”, the court was told.

The figures come after it was revealed a 12-year-old girl charged with murder last month had fled state care 275 times and had a history of violence.

Ms Buchanan is not surprised with the data. Picture: Jason Edwards

Damning details of the girl’s history – which the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing fought to keep secret – were revealed last Friday after a judge ruled a gag order to be inappropriate.

And earlier this month the Herald Sun uncovered a raft of incidents involving the state’s most vulnerable youths in state care being left unsupervised for hours on end, having no access to edible food and being sent to school without shoes or clean clothes.

Ms Buchanan said the allegations were unsurprising ­because the residential care system was “largely broken”.

“Most people in our community have no idea how badly we fail these children, and I don’t think many of us would sleep well at night if we did,” she said. “It (the system) is not fit for purpose and it is therefore causing significant harm to children who’ve already been harmed.”

Australia Catholic University Institute of Child Protection Studies director Daryl Higgins said he and colleagues advocated a broader approach to addressing abuse.

“What we’re seeing right across the board is a trajectory for growth in the number of children entering out-of-home care,” Professor Higgins said.

“That’s despite having had more than 12, almost 14 years now of the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children, whose aim was to try and drive down rates of notifications and unfortunately, we’ve not been successful in doing that.”