Child Forced to Live with Sex Offender
- Child disclosed abuse against offender
- Still placed with the offender
- Premier "deeply concerned" about case
VICTORIA'S Department of Human Services (DHS) placed a child in the care of a convicted sex offender, an Ombudsman's report has revealed.
VICTORIA'S Department of Human Services (DHS) placed a child in the care of a convicted sex offender, an Ombudsman's report has revealed.
In his 2008-09 annual report, Ombudsman George Brouwer found DHS staff repeatedly failed to conduct criminal checks on prospective carers of vulnerable children.
As a result, the department placed a child with a convicted sex offender, despite the child's disclosures of abuse against the offender in the past.
"Even though the child's mother brought this to the attention of DHS staff on a number of occasions, DHS did not investigate the matter," the report said.
DHS staff are required to conduct a search of its database to ensure carers are not alleged to have abused other children.
An investigation into the breach found none of the staff interviewed knew how to conduct such a check, and staff lacked knowledge of relevant procedures.
Excessive workloads appear to be at the root of the problem, the report found.
The Ombudsman has recommended improvements, including supervision of staff, training DHS workers in the standards for police checks, and a review of team leaders' caseloads.
The report also detected a department failure to place vulnerable children with case workers within a reasonable time.
One child protection supervisor had 64 children waiting to be allocated a child protection worker, while in another case, it took the department 17 days to act on a complaint that two boys, aged five and six, were living with a convicted sex offender.
The Ombudsman said that as resources are stretched to meet demand "the threshold for intervention increases".
"The rising threshold seems to either delay or prevent the investigation of serious allegations," the report said.
Premier John Brumby said he spoke with Mental Health and Community Services Minister Lisa Neville about his concerns regarding the child protection system some months ago.
"I am deeply concerned obviously about the case studies (in the report) and what they indicate ... and what they mean, particularly in relation to the care and protection of those children," he said.
"I guess I'd only say, you know, if you look back at every government in our states or around Australia there would be governments ... that would say in hindsight, they should have done more in relation to protecting children."