Services for children and young people


Services to children, including education, out of home care, residential care and youth detention, often take place in fixed settings with specific care responsibilities. The Royal
Commission revealed these settings can sometimes allow or create specific risk factors that may contribute to child sexual abuse. Some of these risk factors include differential
power relationships, unsupervised access to children, and barriers preventing disclosure of abuse.

The ACT Government has a strong system of oversight for children in out of home care – supported by a set of National Standards, the Public Advocate, the ACT Children and Young People Commissioner, the Official Visitors Scheme, the ACT Ombudsman, the Human Services Regulator and the Human Services Registrar. The Royal Commission has recommended improvements to data and reporting on children and young people in out of home care.

The ACT's education system has a strong approach to upholding the rights of the child, and child safety and wellbeing, with the Child Safe Standards embedded in Education Directorate policy and procedures (in the main).

The Education and Care Services National Law (ACT) Act 2011 covers education and care services across Australia. The ACT participates in the national Early Childhood Policy Group, which sits under the COAG Education Council.

Contents:

Out of home care

The Royal Commission’s recommendations relating to out-of-home care place emphasis on the accreditation requirements to both government and non-government out-of-home care service providers. This includes incorporating compliance with the child safe standards identified by the Royal Commission, and providing responsibility to an independent statutory body to assess and process applications for accreditation of out-of-home care service providers and conduct audits of accredited out-of-home-care service providers.

The ACT Government is already undertaking work to align the ACT Out of Home Care Standards with the recommendation through the development of the ACT Care and Protection Organisation (CAPO) Standards. The proposed CAPO Standards will establish minimum conditions for care and protection organisations to maintain a ‘suitable entity’ status. The ACT Government will also work with NSW to identify options to align with the NSW Accreditation Framework, particularly given the crossover of service providers between the two jurisdictions.

The ACT Government accepts the recommendations for the authorisation of carers. The ACT Government will undertake further analysis to consider how it can embed annual reviews of authorised carers within the Child and Youth Protection Services and ACT Together practice and case management. Work will also include determining how to best incorporate community services checks and risk management plans for prospective carers and any adult household members of home-based carers.

The ACT Government’s out-of-home care strategy, A Step Up for Our Kids: Out of Home Care Strategy 2015-2020, is premised on the development of a new therapeutic, trauma-informed system of care. To ensure that strategies are developed that increase the likelihood of safe and stable placements for children in care, the new care system requires therapeutic assessments and plans to be developed for all children and young people in care to identify and treat issues early. The ACT Government is committed to supporting every child and young person to have a therapeutic plan that is based on an assessment of individual needs, and will continue to improve its systems and practices to deliver on this commitment. The ACT Government is also working to assist all care leavers to safely and successfully transition to independent living. This includes current work on the transferral of Transition to Independent Living Allowance (TILA) payments from the Commonwealth to the ACT, and extending support up to 25 years of age for all young people transitioning from care under A Step Up for Our Kids.

Data

The ACT Government supports the Royal Commission’s recommendation to develop nationally agreed key terms and definitions in relation to child sexual abuse for the purpose of data collection and reporting.

The ACT Government, along with the Commonwealth Government and state and territory governments, is also working toward the implementation of enhancements to the Child Protection National Minimum Data Set. This work will also be discussed at the Children and Families Secretaries’ meetings and Community Services Ministers’ meetings.

Residential care

Residential care is still used today; however in the ACT there is far greater emphasis on placing children in home-based settings. The Royal Commission recommends that residential care for children should be based on an intensive therapeutic model of care framework, and that all residential care staff should be provided with regular training and professional supervision.

The ACT Government will focus on developing a framework for the delivery of therapeutic care, and designing oversight arrangements to support independent appraisal of evidence-based models and implementation under ‘A Step Up For Our Kids’. Work will also include reviewing any new accreditation or regulation framework to incorporate therapeutic care requirements.

Youth justice

The Royal Commission highlights the importance of providing a safe and secure environment for children in youth detention. The Final Report determines the need for appropriate risk assessment processes before placement decisions are made, ensuring the cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and improving access to therapeutic treatment for survivors of child sexual abuse who are in youth detention. Staff should receive appropriate training on the needs of children with disability, mental health problems, alcohol and other drugs problems, and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. States and territories should also improve current internal and external complaint handling systems concerning youth detention and ensure they have an appropriate independent oversight body of youth detention.

The ACT Government acknowledges that states and territories owe children in youth detention a duty of care, particularly given that children are extremely vulnerable in youth detention settings and the power imbalance between adult staff and children is great. There are a range of current safeguards and oversight bodies in the ACT’s youth justice context, including the Public Advocate, and Official Visitors, which are involved both within a custodial context, and in the youth justice system more broadly. Changes to current approaches will be considered in the context of existing legislation and operational arrangements including the appropriate and safe placements of children in youth detention and providing culturally appropriate policies and procedures.

Changes will also be considered in alignment with the reform direction established by the ACT Government’s Blueprint for Youth Justice in the ACT 2012-2022 (the Blueprint). The Blueprint is a 10 year strategy to improve outcomes for young people who are involved or at risk of involvement in the ACT youth justice system. Strategies to support young people and their families focus on early intervention, prevention and diversion while addressing risk factors such as socio-economic disadvantage, family breakdown, intergenerational trauma, abuse and family violence, mental health problems, and family drug and alcohol abuse.

The ACT Government is committed to strengthening independent oversight of the ACT’s Bimberi Youth Justice Centre (Bimberi), which is currently overseen by the ACT Human Rights Commission, the Public Advocate and two Official Visitors, one of whom is a designated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Official Visitor. The ACT Government has also established a dedicated Inspector of Correctional Services that will have oversight powers with regard to Bimberi within two years.

To enhance the existing support and training for staff, the ACT Government will provide additional training and professional development for youth justice staff responding to children at risk of sexual abuse and children with harmful sexual behaviours. Bimberi operates services and programs that are trauma informed, recognising the impact of traumatic  experiences on young people’s behaviour and capacity to address issues. The ACT Government will also undertake work to ensure that all staff employed at Bimberi have access to ongoing professional development opportunities specifically relating to trauma-informed care.

The ACT Government will review the current internal and external complaint handling systems concerning youth detention to ensure that complaint handling systems are capable of effectively dealing with complaints of child sexual abuse, and that children are regularly consulted about the effectiveness of complaint handling.

Education

The Royal Commission determined that a nationally consistent curriculum for online safety education in schools should be established. The curriculum should build behavioural skills as well as technical knowledge to support a positive and safe online culture. The ACT Government will support the development of a national curriculum through the Council of Australian Government Education Council processes.

The Final Report also recommends that all state and territory governments should collaborate in the development of a child sexual abuse prevention education strategy tailored to children in out-of-home care, including age-appropriate and culture-appropriate education about sexuality and healthy relationships. The ACT Government is participating in the development of a national approach through the Australian Government’s Department of Education and Training National Safe Schools Framework, and the Commonwealth Government’s Department of Health work to promote e-Safety.

The work of the Royal Commission and the ACT Government’s response may bring up strong feelings and questions. Be assured you are not alone, and that there are many services and support groups available to assist. Some options for advice and support include 1800 Respect, Lifeline on 13 11 14 and the National Redress Information Line on 1800 737 377