Concerning backlog impacting vulnerable Victorian kids

Damning new figures reveal thousands of vulnerable Victorian children in need of protection are living in limbo.

Little boy feels vey lonely in his house

Thousands of vulnerable Victorian children in need of protection have no allocated case workers.

Damning new figures have revealed that in March 2537 children were waiting to be ­assigned their own workers, and the number of unallocated cases was increasing.

The 14 per cent of cases remaining unallocated compares with just 4 per cent in June last year, prompting growing concerns about the backlog.

A leaked report by the Commissioner for Children and Young People last year warned the child protection system was overwhelmed.

Of the 65 children and teenagers known to child protection authorities who died in 2019-20, 39 had inactive contact with child protection services at the time of death.

Opposition child protection spokesman Matt Bach accused the government of ignoring the most vulnerable kids.

“This is one of the reasons why record numbers of Victorian children continue to die despite being known to child protection services,” he said.

“For years Labor has failed to reform child protection away from a crisis-driven system to one that actually tries to prevent abuse and neglect.

A leaked report last year warned that the state’s child protection system was being overwhelmed.

“As a result, more Indigenous Victorian kids are in care than in any other state, and the independent Children’s Commissioner says kids in care are routinely preyed upon by paedophile prostitution rings.”

A Department of Families, Fairness and Housing spokesman said Victoria had the lowest rate nationally of children in out-of-home care.

He said the allocation rate had improved by 5 per cent since 2014.

“Being unallocated and ­actively monitored does not mean the child or young person and their circumstances haven’t been assessed,” the spokesman said.

“It may include children or young people whose case has been assessed for closure; where the family or care ­arrangements are stable such as children or young people living at home with parents on court orders where the ­reunification is going well or children and young people in long-term foster or kinship care arrangements.

“Active monitoring includes face-to-face visits, gathering information from supporting care networks (such as treating physicians), attending case conferences or court, carer assessments or completing referrals.”

The spokesman said decisions on ­allocation were ­informed by an ongoing risk assessment. Questions about what was causing the increase in unallocated cases, or how the problem was being addressed, were not answered.

Originally published as Concerning backlog impacting vulnerable Victorian kids