NORTHERN TERRITORY GOVERNMENT
Growing Them Strong, Together
Child Protection External Monitoring and Reporting Committee
Report following Second Meeting, May 26-27 2011
Alice Springs
Executive Summary
The Child Protection External Monitoring and Reporting Committee (CPEMRC) was appointed by the Minister for Child Protection, the Hon Kon Vatskalis MLA, to undertake an independent monitoring role in regard to the implementation of the reforms agreed to by the Northern Territory Government following the release of the Growing them Strong, Together report of the Board of Inquiry (BOI) in October 2010. The Committee reports to the Northern Territory Parliament through the Minister for Child Protection every six months on the progress of implementation of the reforms. This is the Committee’s first report.
The CPEMRC has met twice – a day meeting in Darwin in February 2011 and a two day meeting in Alice Springs in May 2011, during which a number of site visits were carried out.
The Committee met with the DCF Chief Executive and support staff on
8 February and all day on 26 May. Over this period DCF released its Strategic Framework for 2011-2015 “Safe Children, Bright Futures”, part of its response to the BOI recommendations and in April 2011, and the first six monthly Progress Report on Child Protection Reform was released by the Minister. During this period, the substantive appointment of the Acting Chief Executive Ms Clare Gardiner-Barnes was confirmed. CPEMRC welcomed this appointment noting with approval the stability that was provided by her continuance in the role.
The CPEMRC general impression was that the BOI, and subsequently the Government as reflected in the Safe Children, Bright Futures Strategic Framework 2011 to 2014, have each recognised that reform of the child protection and family support system does not occur quickly. The timeframe in which developments commence within six, 12 and 24 months is appropriately ambitious.
There were 34 urgent recommendations in the BOI report that required implementation to have commenced within the first six months. The Department indicated in its Progress Report that movement had been made on all of these. In addition the Report noted progress that had been made on a further seven recommendations. DCF in its follow-up report to the CPEMRC, documented progress it had made with respect to 66 recommendations many of which related to progress with less urgent matters for implementation within the first 18 months.
CPEMRC noted and supported the Department’s acknowledgement of some of the key issues to be addressed in the change process:-
· The degree of cultural change needed within the DCF;
· The importance of communication at all levels;
· Acknowledgement of the healing process that was needed between DCF
and Aboriginal people;
· Staff recruitment issues, including housing and the disparity that existed for different categories of NT Government employees;
· Pressures on frontline staff with a 12% increase in numbers of investigations;
· The need for reform of the Alternative (out-of-home) care system;
· Information systems development;
· Challenges involved in establishing the Aboriginal peak body
In responding to this range of identified issues the CPEMRC noted:-
· Priority given in the budget to preventive and early intervention services with a 41.5% increase in funding in 2011-12 allocated to Family and Parent Support services;
· There can never be too much communication and the current strategy to enhance this – between head office and other departmental sites and between the Department and NGOs should be further developed. Attention also needed to be given to ways of getting positive messages about the progress of the reforms into the public arena.
· CPEMRC welcomed the breadth of the reforms and recognised the enormous challenges this places on DCF to keep things moving across so many fronts. The Northern Territory Government should recognise the demands this places on senior staff and it is important that the DCF response be commended for the significant progress achieved to date.
The CPEMRC Meeting with Northern Territory Families and Children Advisory Council who expressed some concerns about the lack of synchrony between some of the Commonwealth initiatives and the Northern Territory Government
reforms, particularly in the area of family support services. The Council and CPEMRC have agreed to have ongoing meetings to address issues of shared concern including ways of monitoring the impact of the reforms, particularly within the non-Government sector.
CPEMRC met with the NT Foster Carers’ Association and noted a range of their concerns in relation to the recruitment and support of Aboriginal foster carers. The Committee was impressed with the openness of the forum and DCF's evident commitment to open and frank feedback and discussion. The committee recognises that the partnership between statutory child protection staff and volunteer general and kinship carers can be complex and challenging, but was greatly encouraged by the understanding and commitment to partnership by both the NTFCA and DCF.
This open and candid approach extended to all the committee's meetings with partner agencies and DCF staff that it held in Alice Springs. These included visits to some of the town camps where a range of issues were raised and to the new Youth Hub with which CPEMRC were particularly impressed.
The Committee visited the Alice Springs office of DCF where a number of concerns were ventilated by staff. The Committee was impressed with the willingness of staff to express these concerns and the lack of hostility in the interchanges and the clearly demonstrated commitment of senior management to listen and subsequently respond to issues raised. In particular we were pleased that the smouldering issue of the incomplete implementation of the “Joint Protocol” developed several years ago to provide guidelines for interactions between DCF and NGO staff which had been raised on several occasions during the day was addressed by clear and decisive action by the DCF Executive as a follow-up to these visits.
The CPEMRC in summary noted:-
1. The significant progress achieved
The CPEMRC considers that DCF is essentially on track with the reform process and applauds the substantial work that has occurred for this to be so. The immediate challenge, however, and one that will continue throughout the reform process, is for these developments to be felt by staff and partner agencies in their day to day work on the ground.
In terms of immediate impact, the committee notes the excellent achievement in largely addressing the issue of the backlog of assessments and investigations. It also recognises that there has been a
substantial increase in Category 1 and 2 notifications and that workload challenges will remain well into the future.
In this context the recruitment and retention of staff will remain as the primary challenge for DCF to fulfil its role and achieve reform. It is not alone in facing this challenge in the Northern Territory. The cost of housing and the absence of subsidised housing in regional centres outside of Darwin remains the most obvious impediment.
2. Magnitude and breadth of the changes being envisioned and implemented
The Committee notes that the changes being implemented affect every nook and cranny of the child protection system. Changing the system, including its culture is a challenge comparable with changing course for an ocean liner. It is something that will take time, and progress will not be uniform in all areas. Patience at all levels combined with energy and a clear vision of what is needed to achieve better outcomes are necessary qualities.
3. The importance of addressing achieving a change of culture within the child protection system
Numerous stakeholders raised the issue of the need for culture change within the child protection system, which we felt in many people’s eyes still equated with changes needed in the statutory authority. Whilst culture change within DCF is clearly necessary, interagency partners, NGOs and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups also need to be open to the possibility of change occurring in a Department despite a history of earlier experiences that have generated negative attitudes and mistrust towards it. Stakeholders in the child protection system need to be open to the possibility of positive changes; otherwise there is a risk that the glass will always be perceived as being half empty. The vision of DCF being an employer of choice for Territorians committed to Closing the Gap in Aboriginal disadvantage is inspiring.
4. Communicating with staff, the sector and communities about the new directions
Change is always most obvious to those nearest to where the change is occurring. In large bureaucracies, change in the upper echelons, whilst significant, is often perceived as having minimal impact and relevance at
the coal face. It is important that the rationale for change and its nature, including its benefits for clients as well as staff, is clearly understood. This poses a significant communication challenge for those charged with leading change. The Committee have asked DCF to provide a summary of its existing and proposed communication strategies and how their impact is being assessed for its next meeting
Much emphasis is being given in current Australian child protection literature to the importance of a public health approach to protecting children and promoting their wellbeing. This approach not only recognises the importance of prevention and early intervention as strategies that complement statutory and other forms of downstream interventions for children who are at risk of, or who have sustained significant harm, but the importance of the social context in which abuse is occurring. Without doubt the Northern Territory provides the most challenging context in Australia for its communities, organisations and governments to respond to the scourge of child maltreatment. Whatever changes are implemented to improve the formal systems to protect children, the importance of addressing the social determinants of child abuse and neglect must not be underestimated. The Committee wishes to support and encourage the Minister to emphasise the importance of this work with his ministerial colleagues and the Northern Territory community.
Child maltreatment in the Northern Territory disproportionately affects Aboriginal children and young people and occurs in a very different context to most of the rest of the country – a context marked by poor housing, poverty, remoteness and often intergenerational joblessness; a relatively low ratio of adults available to care for children; the effects of dispossession of lands on communities’ sense of wellbeing; the loss of traditional culture; the impact of intergenerational violence and alcohol and other chemical substance misuse. Improving child protection response systems to improve outcomes for children, whose safety, welfare and wellbeing are threatened by adverse environmental circumstances and the nature of their experience of being cared for, need to be matched by strategies directed at remediable upstream determinants of the care they experience. This requires not just a whole of government but, indeed, a whole of community approach. Without such a broad-based strategy, any hope that downstream reforms will improve the safety, welfare and wellbeing of children and young people is likely to be misplaced.
The CPEMRC would like to acknowledge the administrative support provided by key officials of DCF, especially Samantha Ping-Nam, Pippa Rudd and Clare Gardiner-Barnes.
Background
The Child Protection External Monitoring and Reporting Committee (CPEMRC) was appointed by the Minister for Child Protection the Hon Kon Vatskalis MP to undertake an independent monitoring role in regard to the implementation of the reforms agreed to by the Northern Territory Government following the release of the Growing them Strong, Together report of the Board of Inquiry (BOI) in October 2010 and the commitment by the Government of an additional
$130M over five years, an additional $41M being provided in Financial Year
2011-12. The Committee reports to the Northern Territory Parliament through the Minister for Child Protection and is required to provide a written report on
the progress of implementation of the reforms on a six monthly basis.
The Committee has met twice – an all day meeting in Darwin in February 2011 (after which an interim report was provided to the Minister) and a two day meeting in Alice Springs in 26 – 27 May 2011 which also provided an opportunity to visit several NGOs providing services in and around Alice Springs and foster carers and to meet with the Northern Territory Families and Children Advisory Council (NTFCAC) and staff of the Department of Children and Families (DCF). Prior to this meeting the Chair met with the Northern Territory Council of Territory Cooperation (CTC) in Darwin on 25 May.
This is the first formal report of the Committee.
Committee’s Process
The Committee has been supported by Samantha Ping-Nam and Pippa Rudd and the Chief Executive of DCF, Clare Gardiner-Barnes. For the first two meetings the Committee met with DCF people present, and on the second day of the Alice Springs meeting, although accompanied by DCF staff we met with many other people. The Committee intends to spend more time in camera from its next meeting. The Committee is exploring options for better connections with other groups, such as NTFCAC
Recruitment of new members
Two of the committee members have resigned. Donna Ah Chee from Congress in Alice Springs advised her resignation after being appointed as CEO of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) in Canberra and Charlie King also resigned because of his inability to quarantine time because of other demanding commitments. Replacements for these two people are currently being considered.