Canberra's child protective services will receive more than $10 million over the next four years to bring on 20 extra caseworkers to deal with the increasing number of child concern reports.
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Children and youth minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the multi-million dollar boost in next month's ACT Budget was in response to a growing number of reports being made because of the increased awareness of domestic and family violence.
"These new measures are responding to community expectations and the increased vigilance around family violence and abuse that has led to an increased in reporting to authorities about concerns," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
"What we've seen over the last year or so is a sustained increased in the number of reports and I think that really reflects an increase in community awareness of the impact of family violence and an increased vigilance in making authorities aware when they do have concerns."
From January 2014 to June 2016, there was a 123 per cent increase in the number of child concern reports.
A report tabled in the ACT Legislative Assembly earlier in the year attributed the increase to mandatory reporting and two royal commissions into child protection.
The death of eight-year-old Bradyn Dillon, allegedly at the hands of his own father, also sparked heightened vigilance about family violence.
His death last year prompted widespread criticism of the ACT's child and youth protective services and the government ordered an urgent inquiry.
The resulting Glanfield report urged the agency to adopt a "culture of transparency" and better quality assurance scrutiny of its decisions.
Last budget, the ACT government unveiled a $21.4 million Safer Families package - which included $2.47 million to improve decision making within protective services - funded by an annual $30 levy on all households from July 2016.
Ms Stephen-Smith said this year's package built on the Safer Families reforms.
Recruitment for the extra caseworkers is already under way and when they're on board, the number of teams responding to reports about child welfare will be boosted from 16 to 18, Ms Stephen-Smith said.
The minister also announced $33.7 million in continued funding for therapeutic support and residential care for children through A Step Up For Our Kids, the government's reformed approach to the foster and kinship care system.
Under the new system, introduced in 2015, a consortium of charities led by Barnados took over the provision of out-of-home care from the government.
The system also prioritises keeping children in care with one foster family throughout their childhood years.
