Challenges Faced by the System
Discuss about the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission.
The responses to severe child abuse especially abuse that requires police investigation is possible if several different workers across disciplinary backgrounds and agencies work together in an effective manner. In South Australia, several children that were under the care of the state have been subjected to neglect and abuse not only by their families but also by the system that was under obligation to safeguard such children. The South Australian child protection systems includes several governmental and non-governmental agencies that are required to work together in order to safeguard the children.
The Child Protection Systems Royal Commission was established in August 2014 for investigating the adequacy of the South Australian Child Protection system. The report specifically emphasized on the fact that the reforms made by the statutory agency must not be confined to the agency only as the statutory agency is not solely responsible for ensuring safety of the children (Nyland 2016). In order to ensure quality living standards for such children who are likely to be caused harm, it is important for both government and non-government agencies to bring about changes beyond the statutory operations.
The Child Protection System Royal Commission Report 2016 is recognized as a landmark for the child protection system in South Australia, which has endowed the state with an opportunity to bring about positive change for the welfare of the children. The following policy option paper shall entail the information related to the efficacy of the child protection system in South Australia and shall further include options and recommendations that will enhance the effectiveness of the child protection system of the state in safeguarding children against all types of abuses, neglects or harm (Nyland 2016).
The report was made after the Commissioner perused all the prevailing practices, policies and laws along with the child framework that was in place to safeguard children against any harm, abuse or neglects including those children that were under the Ministerial guardianship. The report stated that the prevailing child protection system was based on an outdated model that did not undergo any changes since it was established to respond to child maltreatment when such incidents were considered as rare and isolated incidents.
However, presently, responding to child abuse neglect and allegations require engagement of workers from different professional disciplines and several agencies who shall work in cooperation and in an effective manner. The critical incidents, child deaths and frequent inquiries related to systems are highlighting the poor information sharing procedure across the agencies. Further, the lack of service coordination has also emerged as a significant issue that is likely increasing the risk of harm for the children. Under such circumstances, it is important to provide a coordinated as well as a holistic response such as the Royal Commission Report 2016, as it is considered as fundamental for addressing the issues and promoting child welfare as well as child safety.
Importance of Communication Between Agencies
In cases of alleged child abuse, police investigation is mandatory as the child protection authorities and policy must come into terms to work together and conduct their investigations with respect to criminal activities to ensure safety of the child. Apart from the police investigations, forensic medical examination and other related services like therapeutic services are equally important, as they are ideal interventions to address any issues pertaining to family environment of the children. Such early interventions shall not only safeguard children from abuse or neglect or harm but shall also provide assistance to the children as well as to their no-offending parents to recover from any such unfortunate incidents (Bailey, Powell and Brubacher 2017).
As per the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission Report 2016, the child protection system in South Australia does not have any strong evidence base for strategies and interventions. Further, since the other interventions usually after a strong evidence base is developed, it becomes difficult, especially when the evidence base is not adequate, to assess whether such interventions are actually making any difference to the consequences for the children and their families. While every worker engaged in the prevention of children against abuse, harm or neglect must act in the best interest of the children, it is often construed distinctly depending on the disciplinary background of the professionals and the roles played by the various organizations that are involved in ensuring safety of the children.
According to Herbert and Bromfield (2017) the existing differences in interpretation of ‘best interest’ of a child and the lack of understanding as well as communication between the workers and agencies often result in a poor response leading to distress and confusion for the children as well as their respective families. Similarly, Moore et al. (2015) asserts that in the absence of proper and adequate communication as well as coordination between the agencies might have an adverse impact on the child as well as their families (provided they are not the offenders) unless the risks associated with the children are not timely recognized and tackled. This is based on the notion that majority of Australian jurisdictions have already incorporated detailed arrangements within the state system that fosters joint investigations to be carried out by both the child protection workers as well as by the specialist child abuse police.
The Commission revealed that a gap between the intricacy of the task and the skills as well as the resources of the agencies that are required to deal with the issues related to child harm or abuse has been filled with numerous procedures and policies that have been developed to ensure certainty to the effort. The Australian jurisdictions have various approaches that are appropriate for developing effective cross-agency responses (Wright Swain and McPhillips 2017). There is a growing need for conducting research and evaluating the rapidly changing arrangements, given the interconnected and intricate consequences that are related to safeguarding children against any harm, neglect, or abuse.
Need for Evidence-Based Interventions
After proper evaluation of the existing policies, it can be rightly mentioned that the Commission could not efficiently address the underlying issues in relation to child abuse. In this regard, it is worthwhile to refer here that, various options are available on the part of the Commission for addressing the shortcoming faced by it.
It is important on the part of the commission to initiate the establishment of the human resource unit having expertise in the relevant field for developing and implementing strategic workforce plans (AM Commissioner 2016). In such process, the protection of child will be ensured to the greatest possible ways.
In order to ensure protection of child, it is essential to employ qualified practitioners who are associated with the well being of child (AM Commissioner 2016). In such process, emphasis has to be laid upon on the affected areas by working closely with the families in need (Salveron et al, 2015).
The most important option available is regarding the implementation of a simple structural assessment framework for ensuring the government and the existing non-profit organizations in South Australia to look into the matter of child-abuse in depth (Churchill and Fawcett 2016).
The other option available to the Commission is concerned with providing active support and training to the practitioners and the staffs of the agency. This is necessary because as a result of such supervision, the practitioners would be able to involve in more realistic assessments in areas involving chronic maltreatment, social isolation and abuse related to drug and alcohol (AM Commissioner 2016).
- It is worth mentioning that, an option is available for addressing the existing subjective issues which are concerned with the personality of the decision making bodies, relationship with such decision makers and the influence of such decision (Marsh et al, 2015).
- It is important to maintain codes of ethical standards against the oppression faced by the children of the vulnerable families (Fraser et al, 2014). In this regard, it is noteworthy to mention here that, the national policy making bodies of South Australia closely in association with the protection of child in institutions like school and health institutions must work according to the codes of ethical standards, professional ethics and the organizational norms (AM Commissioner 2016). In this regard, it is worthwhile to refer here that, the process of decision making in relation to the protection of child shall be reasonably protected to the highest possible degree.
- It is important to engage different advocates who are engaged with the protection of child from both domestic and social abuse (AM Commissioner 2016). However, it is important on the part of the policy to introduce certain measures, so that the advocates could act according to the instructions provided by the child.
- It is essential for the policy makers to supplement the instructions in accordance to the protection of the best interests of the child however; keeping in mind the extent to which the child may not be willing to provide relevant information (AM Commissioner 2016).
- The other options available may be dependent upon the decision of the Court to appoint a representative for the child in distress in case of emergencies.
Various recommendations can be provided to the government in order to improve the policies implemented by the Commission in relation to the protection of the child from abuse. These recommendations can be emphasized as-
- Establishing an efficient protocol for the purpose of governing the eligibility in relation to the grant of legal aid (AM Commissioner 2016). In such process, the decision should be made in accordance to the best interest of the child and most of the proceedings should be conducted in Family Courts rather than Youth Courts.
- It is essential to promote and commission extensive research on the subject matter of child abuse and negligence. In this way, attitudes about the reduction of child abuse must be encouraged on highest priority (AM Commissioner 2016). However, it is essentially important to initiate the promotion of non-violent and non-abusive child rearing practices in the domestic structure and within the community as well (Churchill and Fawcett 2016). This is due to the reason that, with proper identification of strategies appropriate solution could be provided in order to enhance the prevention of child abuse.
- It is recommended to implement policies in regard to primary and secondary prevention of child abuse. It is worthwhile to mention here that, the programs of primary prevention have been implemented by targeting the community as a whole. The nature of the program is such that, it will address the issue at the early stage before it starts. In this regard, mention can be made of the programs in concern with secondary prevention which would prove to be beneficial in addressing the risk targeted to a specific population. However, the nature of the program is such that, it would be favorable in addressing the specific issue faced by the child of a particular community.
- It is important on the part of the government to implement programs in relation to tertiary prevention which would prove to be beneficial in addressing the issues faced by the children which has been abused. In this regard, proper intervention needs to be initiated along with an objective of prevention of recurrence.
- Lastly, it can be recommended that the appointment of a Chief Executive needs to be initiated who possesses strong and efficient leadership skills as well as expertise and recognized creditability in case of protection of child from various kinds of abuse both at workplace and household. In this context, it is important to develop ministerial responsibilities as well. However, implementation of structural framework in relation to the protection of child abuse should be promoted to the great extent possible. In spite of all these, stakeholders and practitioners must work in active collaboration and cooperation with each other by increasing transparency.
AM Commissioner, T. (2016). CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEMS ROYAL COMMISSION REPORT. [online] Available at: https://www.agd.sa.gov.au/sites/g/files/net2876/f/preface_summary_and_recommendations [Accessed 4 Jun. 2018].
Bailey, C., Powell, M. and Brubacher, S.P., 2017. The attrition of indigenous and non-indigenous child sexual abuse cases in two Australian jurisdictions. Psychology, public policy, and law, 23(2), p.178.
Churchill, H. and Fawcett, B., 2016. Refocusing on early intervention and family support: A review of child welfare reforms in New South Wales, Australia. Social Policy and Society, 15(2), pp.303-316.
Fraser, J., Sidebotham, P., Frederick, J., Covington, T. and Mitchell, E.A., 2014. Learning from child death review in the USA, England, Australia, and New Zealand. The Lancet, 384(9946), pp.894-903.
Herbert, J.L. and Bromfield, L., 2017. Better together? A review of evidence for multi-disciplinary teams responding to physical and sexual child abuse. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, p.1524838017697268.
Marsh, C.A., Browne, J., Taylor, J. and Davis, D., 2015. Guilty until proven innocent?–The Assumption of Care of a baby at birth. Women and Birth, 28(1), pp.65-70.
Moore, T., McArthur, M., Noble-Carr, D. and Harcourt, D., 2015. Taking us seriously: children and young people talk about safety and institutional responses to their safety concerns.
Nyland, M., 2016. The Life they deserve: Child Protection Systems Royal Commission Report. Government of South Australia.
Salveron, M., Bromfield, L., Kirika, C., Simmons, J., Murphy, T. and Turnell, A., 2015. ‘Changing the way we do child protection’: The implementation of Signs of Safety® within the Western Australia Department for Child Protection and Family Support. Children and youth services review, 48, pp.126-139.
Trocme, N., Akesson, B. and Jud, A., 2016. Responding to child maltreatment: a framework for mapping child protection agencies. Child indicators research, 9(4), pp.1029-1041.
Wright, K., Swain, S. and McPhillips, K., 2017. The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Child abuse & neglect, 74, pp.1-9.
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