Attempts by child protection bodies to return children in foster care to their birth families have failed in most cases, according to a draft report for the Bracks Government.

Key child policy fails

Between 55 and 80 per cent of children who enter home-based care fail to be reunited with their birth families despite repeated attempts to do so by child protection officials and the Children's Court, the review of foster care found.

The figures confirm for the first time concerns among welfare agencies about the high rate of children shuffled between abusive birth parents and foster care. Victoria's child welfare legislation is geared to reunite most foster children with their birth parents.

Child abuse experts said the finding was the latest in a series of damning reports to the Government warning that its child protection system favoured the rights of abusive parents over those of their children.

The chief executive officer of Australians Against Child Abuse, Joe Tucci, said children suffered severe emotional damage when they were bounced between birth parents and foster care. Yet the department persevered with the practice when it was clear in many cases that the children's drug-addicted or mentally ill parents were unable to care for them.

Community Services Minister Sherryl Garbutt responded on Wednesday to growing criticism of the child protection system by announcing a review of the Children and Young Persons Act. Mr Tucci said the review was long overdue. He said the Government must amend the act to make it easier for children to be adopted at younger ages if several attempts at reunification fail within a limited period.

"Abused children need stability and the chance to form attachments. Too many are being left in limbo," Mr Tucci added.

The Government has not yet released the foster care review but some of its details are contained in a broader departmental report on child protection recently reported in The Age.

The review's findings about the high rates of failed reunifications back those of the broader report, which revealed the child protection system exposed children to long-term damage in the way it responded to cases of abuse and neglect.

The president of the Foster Care Association of Victoria, Janice Hughes, said foster parents were demoralised and leaving the system in droves partly because the department spent too long trying to reunite children with parents who consistently neglected them.

It was increasingly difficult for foster parents to manage the behavioural problems of such children and the cycle of failed reunifications often led to foster placements breaking down. One third of children in foster care have had four or more placements, according to departmental figures.

"It's a terrible situation, these children are like yo-yos," Ms Hughes said. "Foster parents believe it is no good bringing children into their homes for a couple of months, then the child is reunited with its parent and within a very short time - sometimes a few days - the child is back in foster care again. This can go on and on until the child is 15. It's very damaging for the children and for foster parents."

A spokeswoman for Ms Garbutt said the Government was concerned about the rate of breakdown of foster care and other out-of-home care placements.

"The decision to remove children from a family situation is a very serious one and in making any decision about placing a child in care, the welfare of the child must be paramount," the spokeswoman said.

By Caroline Milburn
9 June 2003

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/06/07/1054700442461.html

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