‘$154,000 PER CHILD REMOVED’: EXPERTS CALL FOR URGENT OVERHAUL OF ACT CHILD PROTECTION

Preliminary economic modelling, commissioned by the Canberra Restorative Community Network shows that reform of the ACT’s Child Protection System would not only benefit children and their families, but would also be in the economic interest of the entire community.

The research values the cost of removing one child in the ACT into Out of Home Care at $154,000 over their lifetime. The figure includes very conservative estimates of costs to the health, education, welfare, housing and justice systems for those who have been in child protection.

‘We know that there are significant and negative lifelong consequences associated with disrupted attachment to biological parents, extended family and cultural and community connection when children are taken into child protection. There have also been numerous reviews highlighting the urgent need for reform of ACT Child Protection services. The research we have commissioned now highlights the economic cost of failing to do this,’ said Canberra Network Convenor, Mary Ivec. 

According to the ACT government’s own figures, as provided to the Productivity Commission’s Review of Government Services (ROGS), the total number of children in out of home care in the ACT has risen dramatically by 47% for Indigenous children and 34% for all children, in the ten years to 2018-19.[1]

In 2019 the Our Booris Our Way Review, which investigated the over representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the ACT Child Protection system, found Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were 16.3 times more likely to be in Out of Home Care than non-Indigenous children in the ACT.[2]           

Dr Sharynne Hamilton, a Ngunnawal woman and Senior Researcher with the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth which works to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people said, ‘This economic analysis makes an invaluable contribution to the pressing case for reform of the care and protection system both in the ACT and the broader Australian community. The preliminary number is very conservative. Other research such as a 2006 Morgan Disney economic analysis placed a figure of up to $4.1 million in avoidable costs to government across the life course of individuals who have been in the child protection system.’

Ms Ivec said, ‘We do need robust care and protection mechanisms in place for children, however we know from research that many removals in the ACT are unnecessary and could be avoided if the ACT made greater use of restorative processes to support and promote better outcomes, including child safety, for children and their families.’

ROGS data show that in the 2018/19 Financial Year, 806 children were in care, including 696 in out of home care in the ACT. There were 119 children taken into out of home care in the ACT in 2019 alone.[3]

Researcher Ms Rhiân Williams said, ‘This research highlights that investing to reduce unnecessary Out of Home Care makes good economic sense. The estimated cost is based on an average: meaning it can be used to estimate how many children would be better off if other mechanisms were in place to support them and their families, without the use of out of home care.

Ms Ivec said, ‘For example, an annual investment of $5 million in restorative approaches in child protection, that helped keep at least 50 children safe and out of the statutory system, would still deliver significant overall savings to the ACT community, along with better outcomes for children.’

Network member Dayle Summerfield, who led the effort to source funding for this research, said the study has now inspired the group to crowd source funding for a full cost-benefit analysis of potential restorative approaches in ACT Child Protection. ‘Hopefully this current research, and any future economic analysis, will make it clear the ACT Government must implement desperately needed reforms to reduce the number of children in Out of Home Care,’ said Ms Summerfield.

Dr Helen Watchirs, the ACT Human Rights Commissioner has publically called for urgent reform of the ACT child protection services.  ‘The absence of external merits review of child protection decision-making has been questioned in successive reviews and inquiries over many years and gives rise to serious issues of incompatibility with the ACT’s government’s obligations under the Human Rights Act 2004. The government has had over three years since the Glanfield Report was published to work through any jurisdictional variations and to settle on an ACT-appropriate model. There can be no excuse for the ACT to continue to remain out of step with the rest of Australia by continuing to deny vulnerable children and their families their basic human rights.’

The Our Booris Our Way Review considered how to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the ACT child protection system through reducing the number of children entering care, improving their experience of care and improving pathways to exit care through restoration.

Our Booris Our Way consulted broadly across the community and reviewed the case files of 307 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were in contact with the child protection system as at 31 December 2017. The Review then checked the current circumstances of a sample number of children from the initial review within the system as at end of June 2019 to see what evidence could be found of changed practice since commencing this review.

Ms Ivec said, ‘We know that in comparison to the general population, children in care have poorer mental health and wellbeing; poorer levels of educational attainment; are at greater risk of homelessness, have disproportionately higher rates of alcohol and other drug misuse, are over-represented in youth and criminal justice systems and are at higher risk of further abuse and violence and premature death.’

‘Children do best when they are provided with adequate care and safety by their parents. We urge ACT decision makers to join other jurisdictions and countries, in implementing restorative approaches in child protection that we know will result in better outcomes for children, families and the community as a whole.’

‘For example, in December 2019, Paul Nixon – the former New Zealand Chief Social Worker from Oranga Tamariki, Ministry for Children, visited Canberra to share how restorative approaches led to dramatic reductions in the number of children taken into statutory care, whilst at the same time improving overall child safety.’

Ms Ivec said, ‘We can, and must, do better for children and their families in Canberra. By highlighting the economic costs of current statutory ACT Child Protection policies, processes and practices, our hope is that all political parties will commit to legislating and implementing restorative approaches in child protection, which we know will result in better outcomes for children, families and the community as a whole. This means genuine engagement with families, concerned citizens, community service organisations, statutory child protection services, and the Canberra Restorative Community Network. Together, we need to build a shared understanding of restorative child protection approaches which enable children and their families to be supported and to flourish.’ 

The Canberra Restorative Community Network’s focus is on exploring relational and restorative approaches to address social issues which cause harm to citizens. This means fostering relationships and connections where all involved are treated with respect, care and dignity, and where processes used to manage issues are framed around principles of safety, accountability, empowerment and healing.[4] The group has been actively working to support successive ACT Government commitments to develop Canberra as a Restorative City.[5]

Media contact: Mary Ivec ph: 0438-629211

[1] https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2020/community-services/child-protection/rogs-2020-partf-section16.pdf

[2] https://www.strongfamilies.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/1457813/Our-Booris-Report-FINAL-REPORT.pdf

[3] https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2020/community-services/child-protection/rogs-2020-partf-section16.pdf

[4] For a history of the Canberra Restorative Community Network see http://www.canberrarestorativecommunity.space/ (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5624c6dae4b0501d4071beef/t/5e77cdde683f0c72e5303db3/1584909851677/Bright+Ideas+Full+copy.pdf)

[5] https://justice.act.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-11/191381_JACS_6pp_Vision_Document_web.pdf

 

Family-led decision making to become a legal entitlement in the ACT

The commitment to, and work on family-led decision making and reform in child protection that has been led by Elizabeth Kikkert and her staff is totally uplifting and hugely welcome by the Canberra Restorative Community Network. Elizabeth's leadership and commitment to affect genuine change in child protection needs the followship of all political parties and their public commitment to legislated family-led decision making for all families. https://canberraliberals.org.au/family-conferences-to-empower-vulnerable-families-and-give-them-hope/

The Legislative Assembly has shown us that they can act in a tripartisan way through the passing on 23 July 2020, of the Coroners Amendment Act while also recognising that a great deal of work still needs to be undertaken to develop a restorative coronial process. We believe that leadership shown by Elizabeth Kikkert to commit to restorative processes through family-led decision making will change outcomes for all our children and families for the better. We must address the issue that Canberra has one of the highest rates of removal of Indigenous children in the country. All children and families must be given a legal entitlement to a restorative process and to a family-led decision-making process before a court process takes over.

The Canberra Restorative Community Network has been working very closely with our Indigenous Elders, Aunty Ros Brown, the United Ngunnawal Elders Council and members of the Elected Body, over many years now, to address the need for family-led decision making when concerns for a child's safety exists. Supported by our local academic community, our international restorative learning community and New Zealand's former Chief Social Worker for Child Protection and Youth Justice, Paul Nixon, we know that restorative approaches in child protection work. The evidence shows that the plans that families make are overwhelmingly accepted by professional child protection workers and by courts. Past practices of child removal are not past - they continue to this very day to the detriment of children, families, child protection workers and leave an intergeneration legacy of trauma. This proposal offers a long overdue breakthrough in current failed practices that do great harm. The Canberra Restorative Community Network, our Elders and families, children, young people, parents, grandparents, midwives, family support workers, health workers and many more Canberrans will welcome these much overdue changes in how we think and act in our child protection space.

Mary Ivec, Convenor, Canberra Restorative Community Network

A first step towards Restorative Coronial Inquiries

Many families who have been through coronial processes in the ACT will be very pleased to see the ACT Government take the first step towards reform of our coronial system and hear the Government publicly restating its commitment to further work to develop a restorative framework in this area. The bill addresses several of the significant issues raised by the Coronial Reform Group, and, furthermore, the government has initiated new initiatives to ensure a more restorative approach for families, including the recent appointment of a Family Liaison Officer at the court. There is still work to be done, however, and key areas that need to be addressed including the urgent need for a dedicated coroner in the ACT, on-going barriers to the effective participation of families, the protection of family privacy, the scope of coronial investigations and failures to oversight and implement coronial recommendations. Bereaved families in the ACT find themselves struggling to get the answers they need, waiting too long for inquests to be held and unable to procure independent legal representation to ensure their voices are fairly heard. We need to work together to build innovative processes that support relationship building and power-sharing, where the government works in a genuine, restorative partnership with our community (Ros Williams).

The Canberra Restorative Community Network acknowledges the passing of the Coroner's Amendment Bill on Thursday 23rd July 2020. Please take time to listen to the speeches given in the Legislative Assembly by Mr. Hanson, Minister Rattenbury and Attorney-General Ramsay. The Tripartisan support for restorative approaches in Coronial Inquiries serves as a foundational first step towards reforming current, often adversarial, coronial processes. The speeches acknowledge the unrelenting work of the Coronial Reform Group, as well as the fact that there is still a great deal of work to be done. The Canberra Restorative Community will continue to work closely with the Coronial Reform Group to support their goals for restorative coronial processes.

(Coroners Amendment Bill 2020 http://aod.parliament.act.gov.au/ To listen, go to "Recent Assembly Replays", choose Thursday 23rd July, scroll down on the right-hand side "Assembly Session Log" through to 5.14pm. Jeremy Hanson, Shane Rattenbury, Gordon Ramsay all address the Bill.)

Restorative Inquiry: The Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children

The Nova Scotia Restorative Inquiry into the Home for Coloured Children is the  first public inquiry in the world to take a restorative approach. Nova Scotia agreed to establish a restorative public inquiry designed through a collaborative process involving former residents, the government and members of the African Nova Scotian community, including those connected to the leadership of the Home. Professor Jennifer Llewellyn writes about the Inquiry here: https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/february-2020/restorative-inquiry-offers-new-vision-of-justice-for-african-nova-scotians/

A short series of videos is available here https://restorativeinquiry.ca/video-series.html

Bright Ideas from People, Places and Research: Canberra on the journey to become a Restorative City

As part of the background work to the ACT Law Reform Advisory Council (LRAC) Final Report on Canberra as a Restorative City, a number of interviews were held with those affected by the two systems being considered by LRAC: child protection and Public Housing disputes. Written submissions were also received. LRAC’s Executive Officer, Fiona Tito Wheatland, held face-to-face consultations with organisations and groups, and conducted secondary research on data in Government publications, locally, nationally and internationally. The Evidence Paper entitled Bright Ideas from People, Places and Research provided a comprehensive record of the journey and knowledge to date. The Evidence Paper reflects “bright Ideas” gathered in the course of the research and the views and experiences shared by those who participated. Bright Ideas was released in November 2019.

Here is Bright Ideas for your information and reference.

A shining example of restorative policing

I'd like to extend a very warm welcome to Corey Allen, to our Canberra Restorative Community network friends and colleagues. I had the great pleasure to meet Corey at the Wolston Correctional Centre in Brisbane on Friday 21st Sept when we were both invited by Queensland Corrections to learn more about their successful violence prevention strategy which is being introduced across Queensland (more on that strategy to follow). But first, introducing you all to Corey....

Corey Allen is Inspector, Operational Training Services at the Police Academy Queensland Police Services. Corey was Officer in Charge City Division since 2008. Under Corey's leadership, there were remarkable reductions in crime and improvements in personal safety.  Assaults went down by 34%, robbery reduced by 41%, unlawful entry was down 59%, stealing from motor vehicles down 65% and graffiti reduced by 42%. 

When Corey left this job in January 2016, apart from being able to report the impressive numbers above, he wrote in his farewell message, "More importantly there have been greater changes in the way we do business. Police in the City now work more closely and more effectively with a diverse range of partners.  Our efforts together engaging and supporting vulnerable persons, young people and people at risk are world class. Acknowledgements have come in the form of four National Crime and Violence Prevention Awards, one National Drug and Alcohol Award for excellence in law enforcement, one State Child Safety Award and numerous internal awards for policing excellence.

Far greater reward has come from the culture and attitude that underpins policing in the City itself. Brisbane City police work operationally with support services showing a level of emotional maturity that exemplifies the growth of our values. Uniform police in the City have shown me that the right personal approach to the problems of a big city can make all the difference, especially when it is done with the support of the community. We help more people with less conflict, in ways that make meaningful difference to their lives.

I would like to take credit for leading the team to make these achievements but in all honestly I have been guided and lead by the officers themselves, by the community who trusted us and by the many people who have worked together to make Brisbane City much safer than it ever has been." (see https://mypolice.qld.gov.au/brisbanecentral/2016/01/08/farewell-officer-charge/ )

For a truly wonderfully inspiring 50 minutes, listen to Corey in conversation with Richard Fidler, Radio National. This is a tremendous example of restorative policing. 

http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/conversations-corey-allen/8253804

Corey Allen: making a difference with more personal urban ...

Restoratively yours,

Mary Ivec

Convenor, Canberra Restorative Community Network

Restorative conversations continue in 2018:  Every 1st Tuesday AND every 3rd Friday of each month.

Canberra Restorative Community Network conversations continue in 2018:  Every first Tuesday of the month AND every third Friday of the month.

Canberra Restorative Community Network members and anyone interested in joining are warmly invited to an informal gathering on Tuesday 3rd April at 5.30-6.30 pm at Fellows Cafe, University House, ANU.  We are also expanding to lunch time get togethers. Our first gathering will be held on Friday 20th April from 12.30-1.30 pm at Smiths Alternative, 76 Alinga Street, Civic.  No need to RSVP. Just join us. The aim is to build connections with others who are interested in sharing and learning about the applications of restorative justice practices and processes. 

What is Canberra’s potential as a restorative city? Two day workshop 22nd - 23rd February 2018

Dates: Thursday and Friday, 22 and 23 February 2018, 9:00am to 5:00pm

Venue: Hotel Realm, 18 National Circuit, Barton, ACT

Cost: $275 per person (there is a limited capacity to subsidise the cost of attendance for those who cannot pay)

Book Now
Join the Canberra Restorative Practice Community – part of the Restorative International Learning Community - on 22 and 23 February for two days of learning and reflection on how the ACT might re-envision its approach to education, justice and social services in a way that supports people who are motivated and ready for change. 

We have invited the people who led the way in Hull (UK) - the world’s first restorative city, Leeds - the world’s second restorative city, and New Zealand through their approaches to social services and education.

With two different but parallel stories, dramatic transformation has taken place in the UK over recent years in Hull and Leeds.  A truly relational approach to education, justice and social care (among other things) coupled with a transparent and rigorous commitment to capturing data on outcomes for people has significantly:

  • Reduced exclusion of children from schools
  • Improved school participation rates
  • Reduced custodial sentencing
  • Reduced recidivism rates
  • Reduced numbers of children in care
  • Reduced numbers of families at risk
  • Achieved cost savings
  • Consistently ranked those cities’ schools as ‘outstanding’ (from a very poor baseline report that precipitated their respective journeys into restorative work) by the Ofsted independent audit system.

We will have the opportunity to learn about the restorative journey in New Zealand, where education, health and social services have all benefited from a relational approach.  We will also hear how the voice, cultural understandings and practices of Maori people have been honoured and embedded in how practitioners walk alongside those who are in need of care and support.

The workshop will also be useful for people outside the ACT who are interested in transforming how their cities and towns can challenge people to change and live their lives, supported respectfully by their communities.

Time will be given to allowing participants to share ideas and experience of restorative practice to help build awareness and confidence in its practice.

Watch out for additional information about the event to be posted on the ACT Restorative Practice website in coming weeks. www.canberrarestorativecommunity.space

General enquiries to Alison Brook at abrook@relationships.org.au.
Media enquiries to Lyn Larkin (02) 61629300 or llarkin@relationships.org.au.
 

 

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ACT Law Reform Advisory Council Progress Report "Canberra - becoming a restorative city" released

The ACT Law Reform Advisory Council (LRAC) has now completed its Progress Report on Canberra - becoming a restorative city based on an initial round of consultations.  LRAC examined the fostering of restorative practices in the ACT with a focus on legal and justice dimensions.  A restorative approach can lead to creative solutions to shared problems using restorative processes which have the potential to promote safer and more connected communities. 

The LRAC Paper covers a range of new issues as well as additional information on the questions raised in the Issues Paper.  LRAC hopes to hear from more members of our community in the second round of consultations.  The date for next round of submissions is 30 March 2018. 

The Issues Paper and the Progress Report can be viewed at: http://cdn.justice.act.gov.au/resources/uploads/JACS/PDF/Final_Progress_Report_for_Minister_-_8_December_2017.pdf