100 kids known to Victoria’s child protection services died in two years

One hundred vulnerable kids and teens on child protection services’ radar have died within two years in one state.

One hundred children and teenagers under the age of 18 who were known to Victoria’s child protection services died in the two years before July.

Victorian Coroners Court data, seen by news.com.au, reveals 51 of those children died in 2020-21 and 49 children died in 2021-22.

Some of the causes of death listed for the vulnerable children included SIDS, suicide and assault.

The data also revealed 71 children’s contact with child protection services was “inactive” at their time of death. That was 32 children in the first year and 39 the second year.

The Australian, who first published the data, reported that this suggested authorities erred in closing the children’s files.

A source familiar with child protection services told the publication staff shortages, overwhelming workloads and the struggle to recruit leading to inexperienced staff at the Department of Fairness, Family and Housing were factors that could have been linked to the heartbreaking toll.

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One hundred children known to child protection services died in two years. Picture: istock

In a statement provided to news.com.au about the figures, Child Protection Minister Colin Brooks’ office said “the death of any child death is tragic” and offered sympathies to all families who had lost a child.

“The majority of deaths are attributed to natural causes, SIDS/SUDI and accidents," a spokeswoman said.

“The most recent report published by the Coroners Court of Victoria in May this year made no adverse findings against the department.”

Over the two years, the department and child protection had been involved in 65 of the children’s cases within at least 12 months of their death.

SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and SUDI (sudden unexpected infant death) accounted for 24 deaths, making it the most common cause of death.

Nineteen children died by suicide and seven by assault.

Deaths listed under unintentional included car crashes (14), drownings (8), fire or smoke (5), strangulation or suffocation (4).

There were 11 deaths listed under natural causes.

Causes of death included SIDS, suicide, assault, car crashes and drownings. Picture: iStock

The Australian previously reported 65 children and teenagers known to child protection services died in 2019-20, which means there was a decline in deaths in the two years that followed.

Victorian opposition spokesman for Child Protection Matt Bach criticised the government on release of the new figures.

“Reports today of 100 deaths of kids in Victoria’s care system are shocking, and deeply saddening,” he said.

“Children in care are some of the most vulnerable and traumatised people in our community.

“The state has a great duty to care for them. Instead, under the Andrews Labor Government, these children are being failed.”

Mr Bach said fixing the “child protection crisis” appeared to not be a priority.

“If it was, Victoria would not have had four child protection ministers in the last year alone,” he said.

The Andrews government said it had invested more than $2.8 billion in children and families’ services in the past three state budgets.

This included funding for more child protection practitioners on the ground, but the government said more were needed and achieving this was being affected by labour shortages.