Experts call for national reform as costs climb to $10.2 billion

Australia’s child protection system is at risk of becoming financially untenable, with costs having almost doubled over the past decade despite outcomes remaining stagnant.

Federal government spending on child protection increased from $5.4 billion to $10.2 billion between 2014-15 and 2023-24, an analysis from Deakin University, the Australian Catholic University and partner universities found. The number of child protection investigations nationally held more or less steady over the same period, from 20.2 investigations per 1000 children to 20.9 investigations.

Deakin Lifespan Institute postdoctoral research fellow Claudia Bull said major reform was needed in how funding was spent.

“We’re funding a system to keep the status quo rather than trying to change the fact that so many kids and families are coming into contact with it in the first place,” she said.

Bull said the high cost was in part due to prioritising out-of-home and residential care – the spending for which increased from 56.5 per cent to 64.9 per cent nationally – and that this was coming at the expense of intensive family support services.

“There is always going to be the need for out-of-home care; that is an unfortunate reality of the world we live in. But at the same time, there are a lot of families struggling due to financial hardship, insecure housing and those things that we can support, which then also means that we don’t have to take children from their families,” she said.

“We shouldn’t be penalising poor parents, basically.”

The study found that children aged 12 months and under who were socioeconomically disadvantaged and living in remote or very remote areas had the highest rate of confirmed child abuse reports, and that more than 50 per cent of children who had already been the subject of an investigation were investigated again.

Researchers said more study was needed into emotional abuse, which had grown as a percentage of all confirmed child protection notifications, from 43.1 per cent to 57 per cent.

“It really suggests that it is a national parenting strategy that we actually have to be investing in,” said Daryl Higgins, director of the Australian Catholic University’s Institute for Child Protection Studies and a co-author of the study.

Bull said the system might be too risk-averse, warning that while it exists to protect children, it can also cause harm.

Higgins said the rates of repeated contact with the system showed “we’re missing out on things in those initial assessments”.

“The child protection services are the canary in the coal mine. The answer is not to blame the canary for dying,” he said.

“We know what’s not working, and we know what needs to happen.”

Higgins is calling for a national prevention strategy, a national minister for children, a focus on investment strategies and a summit that includes all levels of government and services across education, health and early childhood.

“They’re the ones who are having contact with children, particularly in those early years … help set them off on a positive path and pick up when signs of things are not going well.”

In 2023, Kids First Australia, which works to improve the lives of children and young people, commissioned an evaluation of the Early Help Family Services Model, which focuses on family coaching and early intervention. The evaluation, conducted by the Victorian government, found 93 per cent of families who used the model were diverted from having contact with child protection.

In the most recent federal budget, the government committed $1.57 billion to the Children and Family Support Program, which it says will help more families access frontline early intervention and prevention services.

A spokesperson for federal Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek said the government agreed there needed to be a greater focus on early intervention and prevention, and while states and territories were responsible for the child protection system, the Commonwealth was taking an active role.

”Every child in Australia has the right to grow up safe, supported and protected from harm,” the spokesperson said.

She said Plibersek had convened a meeting of the Women and Women’s Safety Ministerial Council and community services ministers to discuss reducing the number of children experiencing domestic and sexual violence and changing the trajectory of the rates of children and young people at risk of entering out-of-home care.

Ministers agreed to four priorities: common risk assessment processes for children; workforce and sector capability; investment in Aboriginal community-controlled organisations; and system integration. The council is due to report back by the end of the year.

A Victorian government spokesperson said the state had made significant reforms to improve the lives of vulnerable children and families, and backed that with more than $4.8 billion.

“This year’s budget also invests $164.7 million for early intervention services to help families to stay safely together,” she said.

“Our focus on early intervention means Victoria has the second-lowest rate of children in out-of-home care in the country.”

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact Kids Help Line on 1800 55 1800 or at kidshelpline.com.au, or the national domestic violence service 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.