NT children falling through cracks of overlapping services

More than $500m was spent on NT child protection programs without delivering much improvement, the Productivity Commission says.

Productivity Commission chairman Michael Brennan. Picture: James Croucher

Canberra and Darwin spent more than $500 million last year on child protection programs in the Northern Territory but the two governments operate in isolation, leading to significant gaps and overlaps in services and delivering no improvement for thousands of Territory children, the Productivity Commission warns.

The commission’s new report released on Friday says Territory children continue to be involved with child protection services at four times the national ­average, despite a combined $538m being spent in 2018-19 by the federal and Territory governments through more than 700 grants to more than 500 service providers.

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It calls for a “fundamental change” in approach where some Territory and federal funding is pooled and program decision-making is moved from Canberra and Darwin to authorities in the local areas affected.

Commission chairman Michael Brennan was critical of the lack of co-operation between the two governments on child protection and the dearth of transparent data, ­especially after personal visits to some of the affected areas.

“The system is so fragmented that governments can’t know where all relevant services are being delivered and whether they’re having an impact on the lives of children and families,’’ Mr Brennan said.

The report cites the federal ­Intensive Family Support Service and the Territory’s Intensive Family Preservation Service as an ­example of unnecessary overlap.

“In some locations, such as Katherine, both services are ­available, but there are locations where neither program exists,” the report says.

Of the Territory’s 63,000 children, nearly 7400 received child protection services in 2017-18. Indigenous children are six times more likely than non-­indigenous children in the Territory to receive child protection services, 11 times more likely to be in out-of-home care and 63 times more likely to be in youth detention.

“There should be fewer decisions made in Canberra and ­Darwin,” Mr Brennan said.

“Community priorities should form the basis for negotiation and agreement between governments on what each will fund.”

Funding tended to flow to providers most capable of writing appropriate ­applications rather than to communities most in need, and short-term funding was inhibiting providers’ ability to build capacity and trust in the communities.

“Grants are too short and too uncertain,” Mr Brennan said. “Longer contracts and more certain funding is needed.”

The commission recommends seven-year contracts as a minimum.

Save the Children state manager Noelene Swanson said instability of funding was a major hurdle to effective service delivery, and short-term agreements made staff retention difficult. “For them to be on a year-by-year basis doesn’t provide them with security,” she said. “We often don’t know until ­December whether funding will continue. Staff get nervous and start looking for other employment.”