10 infants die in Victoria’s ‘broken’ child protection system, new report reveals
Ten infants died in state care — including one flagged as “high risk of harm”— after authorities failed to follow government-mandated guidelines to keep them safe.
Ten infants in Victoria’s Child Protection system died after authorities failed to follow government-mandated safety guidelines.
The fatal shortcomings of the state’s flawed child protection were unearthed in a report by the state’s outgoing acting Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People, Meena Singh.
The report said the actual level of care and intervention given to infants in the system was “lacking against the standards and advice outlined in the Child Protection Manual in ten child death inquiries”.
In one case, a premature newborn died after being discharged from hospital with their parents despite a long history of drug abuse and other children being removed from their care.
Authorities never responded to repeated reports about two young siblings who were being neglected before they died.
Child Protection allowed a two-month-old boy who later died of SIDS to stay with his parents despite their “significant and longstanding” drug abuse history and siblings previously being removed from the home.
The report found an infant who died continued to be at “high risk of harm” because protective measures put in place were “not consistent with the risk identified”.
One child died despite being the subject of 20 Child Protection reports in the lead-up to their death.
Of the 37 young people in the Victorian child protection system who died in the past year, authorities had open cases underway into 22 of them at the time of their deaths.
The report found key agencies regularly communicated with one another about a family’s situation and whether a child had appropriate support.
But concerns about the policy failures related to the deaths were echoed in assessments of systemic issues, which found: “cumulative harm and/or neglect are not being adequately considered in Child Protection’s risk assessment and decision making”.
A CCYP spokesman said: “We cannot allow ourselves to treat the number of deaths of children known to child protection as inevitable”.
Details into the deaths come as Victoria’s troubled Child Protection system also grapples with the highest number of vulnerable children dying by suicide in a decade.
In the past financial year, eight children known to child protection took their own lives, up from five young people in 2013/14.
Suicides among children in child protection dipped to its lowest in 2017/18, when one young person took their own life, but suicides have continued to climb steadily since then.
The rising number of suicides and case management shortfalls are the latest issue to be exposed through the Herald Sun’s major investigation into Victoria’s broken state care system.
Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn declined to comment on the deaths, but a government spokesperson said the safety of all children was its priority, with more than $4 billion invested in initiatives to help vulnerable children and families.
A DFFH spokesperson also cited the $4.4bn investment in the sector, but would not comment on the children’s deaths because several of them were the subject of coronial investigations.
“The death of any child, in any circumstance, is a tragedy,” they said.
The CCYP spokesman called for the state government to urgently develop a dedicated child protection suicide prevention strategy.
He said the state’s child protection system remained under “significant stress”, despite major government spending on the sector in successive state budgets.
“Much more work is required to drive down pressure on the Child Protection and out-of-home care systems, through greater investment and earlier intervention for children and families who need help,” he said.
In the past ten years, 408 children known to Child Protection have died in total – an average of 37 kids each year.
Accidental deaths were most common after illnesses such as SIDS, followed by suicide.
Some cases were first reported to Child Protection only at the time of the illness or event that led to a child’s death.
The CCYP will in 2026 table its inquiry into child protection practices and prematurely closed cases, which examined “ineffective referral and premature closure”.
Originally published as 10 infants die in Victoria’s ‘broken’ child protection system, new report reveals
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