Inquiry into Implementation of the Children’s, Youth and Families Amendment (Permanent Care and other matters) Act 2014

Submission on the impact of the of the permanency of care amendments (amendments) made to the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (the Act) by the Children, Youth and Families Amendment (Permanent Care and Other Matters) Act 2014, which came into effect in March 2016.

We support the purposes of the amendments made to the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 by the Children, Youth and Families Amendment (Permanent Care and Other Matters) Act 2014 to promote timely decision-making by both the Victorian Child Protection Service and the Children’s Court, enabling timely intervention where protective intervention is required. The term “permanency” within the child protection scheme “refers to an ongoing care arrangement that keeps a child safe and gives them a sense of certainty about their future.” The underlying policy purpose of the amendments is to find vulnerable children permanent and safe living arrangements as quickly as possible.

However, in our experience, the amendments have not had the desired effect. Overall, we have found that:

• The Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) has significant control over children’s living arrangements without the accountability mechanism of Children’s Court oversight. This has resulted in non-transparent decision-making by DHHS, and decisions that cannot be or are difficult to challenge when they are made contrary to the best interests of the child.
• The simplification of court orders has in practice created a set of inflexible and at times inappropriate order options for the Court. As a result, the orders made by the Court have at times been a square peg in a round hole – they have been an inappropriate fit for the child and her or his family circumstances (see, for example, Case Study 5 below).
• The permanency amendments have in many cases undermined ongoing and safe contact between children and their parents, in this way eroding an important aspect of “permanency” for children in the child protection system.