Victoria’s legal guardian for children in state care was held partly responsible by the Children’s Court this week for the abuse of a brother and sister in care.
Secretary of the Department of Human Services Gill Callister was reportedly criticised by the Children’s Court at a custody hearing for the siblings.
The case of the siblings – who were sexually abused while in the Victorian residential care system – was revealed by the ABC earlier this month, and has triggered calls for the government to urgently reform the state’s child protection system.
Both children, aged under 10, were in care having been taken from their mother in 2011 after allegations that she had physically abused them.
The court was told: “It is clear from the terrible things that have happened to [the children] in care that the secretary is in fundamental breach of her duty of care to each of them.”
“Those with a duty of care for children can be charged for acting or failing to act, in a way that results in them being physically or sexually abused under the Children Youth and Families Act.”
The court added that as such offences required consultation with the secretary to be brought, “this probably excludes the secretary as a person who may be charged”.
Meanwhile Community Services Minister Mary Wooldridge told media that despite the court’s comments, she had confidence in Ms Callister “and the important work of the department in supporting vulnerable children and families in this state”.
Ms Wooldridge reiterated that the department was working to deliver the Coalition’s reforms for vulnerable families.
“They seek to ensure the protection and well-being of children who have been abused or neglected by their parents and respond quickly if further issues arise while in the care of the secretary,” she said.
The department is working to implement the Coalition’s five-year plan to improve the out-of-home-care system and has commissioned an independent review
into the cases of the two children and others.
Jenny Mikakos, Victoria’s Shadow Minister for Community Services and Children, told Neos Kosmos: “This case should be ringing alarm bells within the government about the need to finally take urgent action to fix the underlying problems facing the system.”
“The scathing comments made by the Children’s Court about the failures of the department and the secretary to protect two children in their care are unprecedented”.
Ms Mikakos said the case could have significant implications for future legal challenges in the courts, “as lawyers could argue that vulnerable children are not safe when placed in care”.
“How can we have confidence in the state’s child protection system when the court itself doesn’t have confidence in the department that runs it?” said Ms Mikakos.
Victorian residential care providers warned this week that vulnerable children in state care would continue to be put at risk due to inadequate staffing and pressure on the system. In a letter to Minister Wooldridge from the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare on behalf of nine of Victoria’s largest residential care providers, the centre’s chief executive Deb Tsorbaris said that a lack of placement options was putting children at risk.
“Feedback could not be clearer,” she said. “There is a regrettable but direct link between the lack of adequate placement capacity and the sexual abuse and exploitation of vulnerable children.”
Ms Tsorbaris has asked for an urgent meeting with Ms Wooldridge and Premier Denis Napthine to discuss the matter.