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A national children's commissioner is needed to oversee the welfare of children, and the mandatory reporting of child abuse needs to be overhauled to make sure victims receive appropriate care, a parliamentary committee has recommended. An investigation into out-of-home care found abuse and neglect of children often continues after they have been removed into care homes or foster families. "Children at risk continue to suffer and experience poor life chances," Democrats senator and committee member Andrew Murray said. "The welfare of children at risk in Australia is still under a cloud. Too many state wards end up homeless, in strife and on the streets ... Someone said somewhere that if the state was a birth parent then many of the children in its care should [be] removed." But the Federal Government indicated it was unlikely to adopt the recommendations with the parliamentary secretary responsible for children and youth affairs, Sussan Ley, saying she was not sure what help a children's commissioner could be. However, a meeting of community and disability services ministers in July would consider the recommendations, she said. The committee also recommended modifying teacher education courses to help them identify victims as well as a new carer payment for foster parents. Awareness could be increased by declaring a national year against child abuse. The states and territories are responsible for child welfare but the committee suggested a national approach, including reviews of whether mandatory reporting systems were working. More flexibility in accommodating and caring for children with disabilities also needed to be considered, the committee suggested, particularly when families are able to care for their children at home. "It is time politicians, policymakers and those that matter really do get it," Senator Murray said. "By this, I mean come to grips in a serious way with the reality that if you harm and break the spirit of a child then you will have decades of a damaged adult to deal with, damage that represents a lifetime of costly government expenditure." John Murray, a member of an association that represents people who grew up in care, the Care Leavers Australia Network, said: "We are appalled that children continue to emerge from years of assistance and care into the community as adolescents and young adults with no education, no skills, no networks and no assistance." This is the second report from the committee, which received about 750 submissions. Its first report, released last year, revealed physical and sexual assault, starvation and emotional neglect in homes run by the churches and state governments over 80 years. The chairman of the committee, Gavin Marshall, said there had already been inquiries identifying deficiencies and shortcomings in the child protection regimes around the country. "The reality is that much more needs to be done, and it can be done, to ensure that all children in Australia are protected from abuse and and neglect," Senator Marshall said. AAP (18-3-2005) Stephanie Peatling |
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