Rise in deaths of children at risk

THERE has been a surge in the number of deaths of children at risk in NSW in 2007, despite a $1.2 billion funding injection into the Department of Community Services over the previous five years.

The revelation came at an estimates hearing at State Parliament yesterday, as an inquiry is finalising its recommendations as to whether the Government is doing enough to protect children at risk.

The Minister for Community Services, Linda Burney, said yesterday 156 children at risk had died in 2007, up from 114 in 2006. In all cases, the children were known to DOCS as being at risk.

For several years the number of deaths of children at risk has hovered at 100-110 a year. Criticism over the continued high level of deaths led last September to the Wood inquiry, headed by retired Supreme Court judge James Wood, QC. It is to report its findings by year end.

The number of deaths of children at risk is usually disclosed by the Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, although Ms Burney said yesterday she had told him that if asked during the committee hearings, she would disclose the data.

Ms Burney pointed to the "significant increase" in the number of deaths, which would be of public concern.

"The most frequently-recorded risk factors in reports about children and young people who died in 2007 were domestic violence and parental substance abuse," Ms Burney told the parliamentary committee hearing. "These issues seriously erode our children's safety, accompanied by a third social problem, mental health issues for parents."

Of the 156 deaths, 72 were from natural causes, 18 were babies who died of sudden infant death syndrome, known as SIDS, eight were suicides, eight died in car accidents, five drowned, three died from fires, three from accidental choking or smothering, 11 died in uncommon circumstances such as from a snake bite, four died from fatal physical assaults, and the remaining 19 died due to causes unknown or undetermined.

In all, 55 per cent were involved either directly, or their sibling, in instances of domestic violence in the three years before their death, and there was also 55 per cent in cases where there was suspicion of parental substance abuse, and 24 per cent showing parental mental health concerns

"The Opposition has been calling for a royal commission into DOCS for quite some time," the Opposition spokeswoman on community services, Katrina Hodgkinson, said. She blamed the department for not working closely with other government agencies, a culture of bullying in the department, and a "revolving door of junior ministers" handling the portfolio for the chronic problems.

During the committee hearing, the director-general of the Department of Community Services, Jenny Mason, said that despite successes in hiring more case workers, staff turnover remains high, at 8.9 per cent in 2006-07.

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Taking the scalpel to DOCS

Overloaded on one front, the state's child protection agency fails all.

When the body of a boy was found in a suitcase last year, and a girl was later found starved to death, the State Government could no longer ignore the calls for a major inquiry into the state's child protection system.

People wanted answers: why wasn't the Department of Community Services there earlier? How could problems escalate to the point of tragedy?

As evidence unfolded at the inquiry under Justice James Wood, it seemed miraculous the number of child deaths was not higher. Only a fraction of the tens of thousands of children reported to DOCS each year because of fears about their welfare and safety is removed from their families. Most reported children remain with their parents. But these parents receive little or no help for their drug addiction, depression, domestic violence, or poor parenting skills - the problems that prompted someone to make a report to DOCS in the first place.

"People assume because a child is in the child protection system he or she is getting help, but usually they don't get anything, and certainly not the intensive family support they need," says Jane Woodruff, chief executive of Burnside, a non-government child welfare agency.

It is this wider story of state neglect - of a failure of DOCS to intervene early before problems escalate into crises or tragedies - that has given rise to calls for radical change in the child protection system.

Justice Wood, who will present his blueprint to the Government in a few weeks, has been urged to make the sort of sweeping changes that happened in Victoria, Queensland and West Australia in recent years. Some believe DOCS is beyond saving. No amount of tinkering or infusion of money, they argue, can fix what they see as an overwhelmed, defensive and ineffectual bureaucracy.

"DOCS needs to be broken up," says Louise Voigt, chief executive of the non-government child welfare agency Barnardos.

Woodruff and Voigt want the department shrunk, not expanded, and they want it to get out of the way of non-government child welfare agencies, such as Barnardos, the Benevolent Society, Wesley Dalmar and Burnside, which would play a much bigger role in a revamped system. They want a pared-down Department of Child Safety to replace DOCS. Its sole function would be to investigate the most serious reports of suspected abuse and neglect, to take court action, and to remove children if necessary.

And to stop the new department from being overwhelmed by reports, as now happens with DOCS, the threshold for mandatory reporting by doctors, police, teachers and child-care workers would need to be raised.

Voigt, Woodruff and many others advocate lifting the bar so that only children "at risk of significant harm" would have to be reported to a statutory agency. Under the current definition, police, for instance, report every child at a domestic violence incident, swamping the DOCS helpline in the process. No discretion is allowed.

In separate submissions, Voigt and Woodruff are also calling for a second agency - a Department of Families, Children and Communities - to be established to help all families and children, but especially those "in need". This department would take over much of the other work DOCS is supposed to do but does badly because of its child protection workload. These duties include early intervention and foster care, but the proposed new department would contract the non-government children's agencies to do on-the-ground work with families.

"The aim is to enhance the efficacy of prevention and early intervention services," says Woodruff.

It is a bold vision but not everyone thinks such a radical restructure is the answer. Splitting the roles of child protection and early intervention between two departments has been less than successful in Queensland, according to Paul Testro, a child protection consultant from Brisbane, who has watched Queensland's 2004 changes create barriers and turf wars.

But it is a measure of the profound disillusionment with DOCS that the non-government children's agencies and many experts want the department, if not scrapped, then curbed, and its workload shared.

It would not be the only player in child protection work, for example, under a plan put forward by three leading child protection experts, Judy Cashmore, Dorothy Scott and Gillian Calvert. Police, hospitals, schools and child-care centres would have an in-house trained child protection expert who would judge whether children of concern to their colleagues were "at risk of significant harm".

So judged, the children would be referred to DOCS for immediate investigation. If not, they could be referred directly to a non-government child agency for practical help.

At the heart of the call for radical change is an ocean of unmet need for help from poor and struggling families. But it is hard to quantify. Of the 286,000 reports to DOCS, many involve the same children time and again. The inquiry heard that mandatory reporters, such as doctors, would repeatedly report the same child until they provoked some action from DOCS.

It is possible that a relatively small number of families with many children account for a lot of the reports. DOCS estimates only 10 per cent to 20 per cent of reports are high-level cases that require immediate intervention. It substantiated reports for 14 per cent of children notified in 2006-07. By DOCS's estimates, at least 10,000 families need early intervention programs.

It is not that government has been unaware of the huge hole in service provision. Less than two years ago, DOCS launched a major early intervention program, costing $150 million over three years. Badged the Brighter Futures program, it is a partnership with non-government children's agencies. Parallel systems have been set up of DOCS case workers and non-government workers to share the 6000 targeted families.

Fourteen non-government agencies won tenders. It is relatively early days. But the experience so far of the Brighter Futures "partnership" with DOCS has convinced many that even if the department survives Justice Wood's report, it should hand over all early intervention work to non-government agencies.

"If all the Brighter Future services were delivered by the non-government agencies, the state would get more bang for its bucks," says Maree Walk, director of the Benevolent Society's Centre for Children.

Most agencies were scathing in their submissions to the inquiry about DOCS's ability to do early intervention work with families. Sadly for the many good DOCS child protection workers, the department's reputation is so tainted that many families will not accept help from an agency that could take their children away.

As well, the agencies claim DOCS has much higher staff turnover than the non-government sector, jeopardising continuity with families whose relationships with the department are meant to span two years.

"Their capacity to deliver Brighter Futures is woeful," says the head of an agency contracted to the program. "They have the same size team as we have in this area but deliver services to less than half the families we do. If we were doing half our contracted families we would be booted out. But there is no consequence for DOCS."

As well, DOCS's multiple role as gatekeeper, service provider, funder and contract monitor has made Brighter Futures unnecessarily cumbersome, the agencies say. The department insists 80 per cent of the families referred to the program must first have been reported to the DOCS helpline; 20 per cent of referrals can come directly to the agencies from community sources such as mental health nurses or child-care workers. Many agencies want the ratio changed.

As most agencies have discovered, Brighter Futures is far from early intervention work. Many families DOCS refers have entrenched and multiple problems; their children have been known to the department for years. By default, some agencies have found they are doing child protection work with high-risk families.

"It's been a shock," says Peter O'Brien, manager of child and family services at Wesley Dalmar. He dreads one of his workers ending up "with a baby in a suitcase". But if he refuses high-risk families, the most needy children will get no help. "We're in a dilemma," he says.

Justice Wood and his team face a massive task. At every turn the dilemmas are profound - whether it be raising the threshold for mandatory reporting of child abuse, or cutting DOCS out of direct early intervention work, or out of existence entirely.

What is clear is that the small number of child deaths is a barometer of a wider malaise. Many parents, usually poor, often unwell, are struggling to supervise and care for their children adequately. The children may not be in immediate serious danger. But their life chances are being eroded, and their health and cognitive development compromised the longer their families wait for help.

How to ensure more families get high quality services early enough, long before children need to be removed from homes, or are found dead, is one of the biggest challenges facing Justice Wood and his team.

NO RHYME NOR REASON

The following is extracted from Burnside's submission to the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW:

In 2004 Lisa, a sole parent, had three children under eight. She sought help from DOCS because she was depressed and felt she was not able to cope. She was told her circumstances were not serious enough to warrant a response.

In 2005, after a number of reports to DOCS that her children were neglected, the children were removed and placed in foster care. Lisa was left feeling alienated and angry.

Her children were restored after a couple of months with no further help offered. Her children were clingy, and frightened when she was away. She is engaged with a Burnside family support service, and doing well. She is bewildered about why, when she sought help, she was not able to access it.

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Fury as DOCS 'lose' girl

Missing ... Lauren Ryall, 13.Unfortunately she did not go to the agreed destination and in hindsight there may have been a more appropriate response for this child

The Department of Community Services says it will review its procedures after a 13-year-old girl it placed on a train alone from Parramatta to Dunmore, near Wollongong, vanished.

Lauren Maree Ryall was reported missing on Monday afternoon after she failed to arrive at her destination. Police today said she had still not been found.

DOCS caseworkers had dropped the girl off at Parramatta station about 1.40pm on Monday. She was given a train ticket and lunch money, said Helen Freeland, DOCS executive director for operations.

"Lots of 13-year-olds travel on their own on the train," she said.

But her mother, Judith, said Lauren should not have been left to travel alone.

"It should never have happened it should never happen to any child," she said.

"Now my child is missing and DOCS have since told me that they can't do anything to help look for her because it's now in the hands of the child protection agency and police."

DOCS director general Jenny Mason said it was working with police to find Lauren as soon as possible.

"Unfortunately she did not go to the agreed destination and in hindsight there may have been a more appropriate response for this child," Ms Mason said.

"We are looking at our procedures and policy to minimise the chances of this happening again."

Judith said Lauren had called her on Tuesday night to say she was with a friend in Wyong. But Lauren hung up after less than two minutes when she found out police were looking for her, Judith said.

Lauren had travelled to Wyong with a girl, who had also been placed on the train at Parramatta by DOCS on Monday.

She had been placed in DOCS' care at the weekend after returning to her Wollongong home from a friend's house and finding her mother missing.

"She had gone out on Friday, I'd given her permission to go to a friend's place [and] I'd come to my cousin's house," said here mother.

"Lauren didn't realise I was at my cousin's place and gave herself to police on Sunday night."

Police were duty-bound to report the matter to DOCS, Judith said.

Lauren's parents were separated, and her father lives in Queensland.

Lauren's mother said she had previously contacted DOCS to help "straighten my family out".

But she was upset DOCS had placed her daughter on the train alone.

"If I can just save one child or one parent what I've been through in the last 48 hours, all of this would be worth it," she said.

The furious father of the 13-year-old girl says the organisation has not even contacted him.

Lauren's father, John Ryall, said police had told him they knew "roughly'' where Lauren was.

"It's a matter of time before they get her,'' he said.

However, he remained furious at what had happened.

"They (DOCS) neglected to tell us for two days that [Lauren] was with a known runaway 15-year-old girl, I had to find that out through the police,'' Mr Ryall said from Mackay, where he lives with his 14-year-old son.

"I'm not really comforted with the company she's in. Every night I go to sleep and I don't know if these people are into drugs or sex.''

Anger

Mr Ryall struggled to contain his anger when asked how he felt about DOCS letting his daughter board a train alone.

"I'm a crane driver and we've got a duty of care to people at work. If I put someone in that much danger I could lose my job.

"I want her safe and then I'm going to take these people apart. I'm going to write representations against DOCS, I'll need some legal help here.

"They're not getting away with this crap. She could be dead. I know Sydney.

"At one stage I thought I'd never see her again. It's sheer luck for DOCS people she's still living and breathing.''

Mr Ryall said it had been agreed some weeks ago that Lauren would move to Mackay to live with him.

DOCS contacted Mr Ryall on the weekend after Lauren entered its care, he said.

"They were going to arrange for her to be kept until she could be sent up here to North Queensland to be with me,'' he said.

"Next thing I hear [from Lauren's mother, Judith] DOCS had put her on a train.

Haven't heard a word

"I haven't heard a word from DOCS [since Lauren went missing], I haven't even gotten a courtesy phone call.''

He said he would resist any moves by DOCS to place Lauren in foster care after she is found.

"Once she's checked out medically, I don't want her anywhere near DOCS. I don't trust DOCS.

"Every minute she's missing, that's a minute of my life when my heart stops, I'm crying myself at night, dreaming about her when she was a little girl.

"She's still a little girl.''

Ms Freeland said: " The choice that our caseworkers have to make is do they spend a whole day either driving her home or taking her by train or do they go out and respond to the urgent cases that have come over the weekend, and these are very difficult choices that we make every day."

Updated 6:14pm (AEST)

Police say she was found at about 11:30am AEST today on a train heading to Cronulla.

They say she is safe and well.

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Juvenile detainees sharing single cells

SEVERE overcrowding in the state's juvenile detention centres is forcing young people to share cells designed for one person, to sleep on mattresses on the floor and be held in "segregation" rooms usually used as punishment cells.

The Department of Juvenile Justice is shifting detainees who have turned 18 to adult jails despite judges' orders their sentences be served in juvenile detention until age 21 because of special circumstances that can include immaturity, mental health problems and rehabilitation prospects.

Some detainees have been unable to get a place in the centres' schools, and rehabilitation programs are under pressure, staff said.

A departmental spokesman admitted yesterday that some detainees had shared cells on mattresses as "a temporary measure to deal with unexpected surges" in numbers, and youths had been moved to adult jails.

Detainee numbers surged after the NSW Government's changes to the Bail Act in November as well as increased policing, the spokesman said.

Counsellors and lawyers are concerned that vulnerable young people and model detainees who have responded to rehabilitation will come to grief in adult jails.

"My fear is that you get high-risk young people who don't want to be moved into adult prisons becoming another death in custody - all for the sake of a friggin' bed," said Bradley Freeburn, a co-ordinator at the Aboriginal Medical Service.

The State Government amended a law two years ago to enable the department to override a judge's orders detaining young offenders after their 18th birthday. But until the overcrowding problems this year, these orders were countered only if youths were disruptive or a danger to other children, lawyers said.

"A lot of these young people are fodder from DOCS and a high number are Aboriginal kids, and now because of overcrowding they're being funnelled into the adult system," said a centre worker who could not be named.

Ten youths have been transferred this year, and staff said a further 20 are to be moved. A departmental spokesman said the offenders were adults who had committed serious offences including murder, sexual assault and armed robbery.

Andrew Haesler, the deputy senior public defender, has been asked to advise on whether legal challenges to the Supreme Court can be made in two cases to reverse or prevent transfers.

Confidential departmental information shows there were more children than beds in the system virtually every night last month with all nine centres consistently at overcapacity.

DOCS insiders blow whistle on tragedy

DOCS workers have detailed a catalogue of failures that have left at-risk children in unsafe families and put staff in danger, as officers struggle with crippling vacancies in a department top-heavy with managers and with a dysfunctional records system.

On the eve of the State Government's special commission of inquiry into child protection services, prompted by the death of seven-year-old Shellay Ward, frustrated staff have spoken to the Herald about reports of abuse that are never investigated and children in care who never see a case worker.

Long silenced by government restrictions on speaking to the media, these Department of Community Services workers say it is time for their views to be heard. They believe it is the only way to ensure that the Wood Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services, due to begin public forums this week, will succeed in undoing the years of neglect and bad policies that have led to the crisis.

The workers who told their stories did so on condition of anonymity, fearful for their jobs and mindful of the impact their actions may have on clients. Many more were unwilling to speak, while others withdrew after legal advice.

One child protection worker, Richard*, said staff were overwhelmed by the amount of work. "In the end that means we can only deal with the worst of the worst cases, and they are the most difficult cases," he said.

"There was a time when you could get to matters before they got to a real crisis point, but we are now being pushed to the very pointy end of child protection."

Wayne, who manages case workers, said there was a world of difference between what the department was telling the public, and what the frontline workers were experiencing.

Much of the problem stemmed from the enormous number of staff vacancies. As a result, "many children in the department's care … very rarely get to see their case worker - it is not unusual to hear that they only see them once a year, sometimes less," Wayne said.

"Many of those unallocated cases are serious allegations of children being physically, mentally or sexually harmed."

Another worker, William, said that despite the $1.2 billion in enhanced funding for the department, "at the field level, at the coalface level, nothing has changed for the case worker, and that is very disappointing".

"There is a political time bomb ticking here - there is a large gap between those that can be helped with early intervention and the crisis end of the system."

DOCS workers have detailed a catalogue of failures that have left at-risk children in unsafe families and put staff in danger, as officers struggle with crippling vacancies in a department top-heavy with managers and with a dysfunctional records system.

On the eve of the State Government's special commission of inquiry into child protection services, prompted by the death of seven-year-old Shellay Ward, frustrated staff have spoken to the Herald about reports of abuse that are never investigated and children in care who never see a case worker.

Long silenced by government restrictions on speaking to the media, these Department of Community Services workers say it is time for their views to be heard. They believe it is the only way to ensure that the Wood Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services, due to begin public forums this week, will succeed in undoing the years of neglect and bad policies that have led to the crisis.

The workers who told their stories did so on condition of anonymity, fearful for their jobs and mindful of the impact their actions may have on clients. Many more were unwilling to speak, while others withdrew after legal advice.

One child protection worker, Richard*, said staff were overwhelmed by the amount of work. "In the end that means we can only deal with the worst of the worst cases, and they are the most difficult cases," he said.

"There was a time when you could get to matters before they got to a real crisis point, but we are now being pushed to the very pointy end of child protection."

Wayne, who manages case workers, said there was a world of difference between what the department was telling the public, and what the frontline workers were experiencing.

Much of the problem stemmed from the enormous number of staff vacancies. As a result, "many children in the department's care … very rarely get to see their case worker - it is not unusual to hear that they only see them once a year, sometimes less," Wayne said.

"Many of those unallocated cases are serious allegations of children being physically, mentally or sexually harmed."

Another worker, William, said that despite the $1.2 billion in enhanced funding for the department, "at the field level, at the coalface level, nothing has changed for the case worker, and that is very disappointing".

"There is a political time bomb ticking here - there is a large gap between those that can be helped with early intervention and the crisis end of the system."

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