More government resources and early intervention is needed to address the number of Australian kids entering out-of-home care, a report says.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In her report to UnitingCare Australia released Friday, Robyn Seth-Purdie also recommended strengthening the community networks around children.
"In a sense, what the people commissioning the report were hoping for was a silver bullet," Dr Seth-Purdie said.
"That proved illusory."
Instead, Dr Seth-Purdie has made what she admits are "general" recommendations to improve the state of out-of-home care for Australian children.
Out-of-home care includes children living with other carers, residential care, group homes or even independently.
Dr Seth-Purdie said there was a "big gap" between what was possible with current funding across jurisdictions, and what was needed.
But she said it was more important to enable families to get the support they needed, in turn, their children would be supported.
"We should also make the big preventative investment," she said.
The psychologist and former public servant also recommended creating tailored systems, that listened to the children they were meant to help.
There are currently 47,000 children in out-of-home care across Australia, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children over-represented.
Indigenous kids were seven times more likely to have received child protection services, and were more likely to encounter neglect, one of the risk factors of child maltreatment.
Dr Seth-Purdie said neglect was common for families who didn't have the resources needed.
She said if Australians didn't have adequate housing or employment, the risk of their children being maltreated climbed rapidly.
Stronger support meant stronger childhood development, she said.
Dr Seth-Purdie also recommended providing care that understood the trauma facing children entering the system.
She also said some children should maintain strong links to family, even if they'd been removed from their care.
A long term approach to help children adapt to life after care was also needed, Dr Seth-Purdie said.
The report pointed to a Victorian study showing as children got older, they were more likely to enter residential care.
UnitingCare Australia national director Claerwen Little said far too many children were ending up in out-of-home care.
Ms Little said it was services should be properly resourced and more investment made in early intervention.
Australian Associated Press
