Advocate calls for sweeping child safety reforms to address root causes of youth crime

A child safety advocate says the State Government’s proposed changes to youth justice laws will only make the crime situation worse. Here’s her solution:

Hope for our Children director Nadine Wright. Photo Bev Lacey

Toowoomba child safety advocate Nadine Wright says the State Government’s proposed reforms to youth justice laws will only make the situation worse.

Mrs Wright, who runs the local advocacy organisation Hope for Our Children, says she doesn’t believe the changes outlined will work, pointing to the large numbers of offenders who have had contact with the child safety system at some point in their lives.

“It’s just ineffective because you’re punishing kids who don’t have the skills to rehabilitate,” she explained.

“They need long-term intervention from a young age to be at a place where they are not offending.”

The State Government, responding to community pressure following the deaths of Kate Leadbetter, Matt Field, and their unborn son last month, introduced changes to youth justice laws, which are being debated in parliament this week.

The couple was out walking their dog in Alexandra Hills when they were struck and killed by a stolen Toyota Landcruiser on Australia Day.

A 17-year-old has been charged with two counts of murder and dangerous driving.

The proposed changes will give courts more power, allowing them to require the fitting of electronic monitoring devices as a condition of bail for recidivist high-risk offenders aged 16 and 17, and create a presumption against bail for youth offenders arrested for committing further serious indictable offences while on bail, among other reforms.

Mrs Wright said crackdown measures were a “bandaid” approach and didn’t address the root cause of why young people were turning to crime.

She said the current child protection approach which saw the removal of children from homes as a last resort meant they were being left in traumatic situations longer.

“State governments have failed our nation’s most vulnerable and mistreated children, they have intervened too late, and now 10-plus years later, we are reaping the consequences of a generation of children not given adequate treatment or intervention.”

The solution, Mrs Wright believes, is a multi-tiered approach that includes the use of professional foster carers as a norm, earlier removal and intervention with families, greater use of permanency options for children in out of home care, and a change in the practice of using residential housing for children in care.