Territory child protection system ‘in crisis’, says Children’s Commissioner

THE Territory’s child protection system is in crisis, the Children’s Commissioner says

Attorney-General John Elferink announced the NT would be getting an anti-corruption body after months of scandals and growing pressure from the public.

THE Territory’s child protection system is in crisis and a “bold” policy overhaul is needed for how NT Government departments deal with the increasing numbers of children at risk, the Children’s Commissioner says.

More than 17,000 cases of suspected child abuse or neglect were reported to Territory authorities in the last year – up a record 32 per cent and putting pressure on child protection workers to prop-erly deal with children at risk.

However Child Protection Minister John Elferink has said the notifications are not an accurate indication of the level of substantiated cases of abuse and neglect, saying most notifications are eliminated from the system immediately.

The increase, however, reflected about 200 extra substantiated cases of abuse and neglect.

The statistics were released recently in the Children’s Commissioner’s 2014-15 Annual Report which also revealed an increasing number of overdue child abuse or neglect investigations.

As of June 30 this year there were 1301 unallocated or overdue investigations – up from 1160 the previous year

“A bold decision needs to be made to turn this on its head,” Children’s Commissioner Colleen Gwynne told the NT News. “To have a 32 per cent increase in one year is significant ... I don’t think any department could cope with such an increase in workload.

“I think we have dropped the ball in how we deal with things at the earliest opportunity. We are putting pressure on one department to deal with major social issues in the Territory. My annual report shows we are in crisis and we have a department doing the best they can with what they have to respond with to a significant community issue.”

Mr Elferink rejected any suggestions of a crisis, saying there were pressures in the department however he was in talks with Treasury to boost resources to the department in the Budget.

“While the increase in substantiations has not been huge it is nevertheless concerning and I am currently going to Treasury in the current budget cycle and expect to come out with funds sufficient to deal with the increase.”

Ms Gwynne suggested early intervention and making child abuse and neglect a public health issue as a start to overhauling the present model.

“It costs governments a lot of money in the end. We are reacting to a public health problem which is young people entering the youth justice or child protection system who are suffering significant cognitive or mental health problems because it is too late,” she said.