Children Who Fall Through The Cracks

1
Children Who Fall Through The Cracks

• David Fanning
• Commissioner for Children
• Tasmania

The Commissioner for Children is an independent,
statutory office responsible to the Parliament of
Tasmania. The Commissioners functions include
promoting the rights and well-being of children
along with examining the policies, practices and
services provided for children and any laws
affecting their health, welfare, care, protection
and development.
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An example

• Magistrate comments on a lack of coordinated and
  integrated approach for the offender and directs
  that the case be brought to the attention of
  relevant authorities
• 16 year old male youth charged with assault
• Serious Assault with the potential for serious
  injury
• Magistrate notes that the nature of assault would
  warrant a Detention Order or a jail sentence for
  an adult
• Has prior history of demonstrating some
  propensity for violence
• Has increased vulnerability as already not living
  with parents

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Magistrate is concerned that

• Despite youth having been on two previous
  Probation Orders there are no apparent support
  provided to him by Youth Justice
• Not attended school at all for two years
• Enrolled himself in distance education but
  without support could not maintain commitment

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Not so much falling through the cracks
as a gaping chasm of inactivity!

5
How does this type of service system failure
happen in such a comparatively well resourced
jurisdiction?

• This example highlights
• The simple availability of services is not enough
• Service providers tend to define their
  responsibilities narrowly
• Service principles enshrined in legislation may
  not reflect reality on the ground
• Workers often define the problem as not enough
  services or service gaps
• Workers are less likely to identify the way
  services are provided as part of the problem

6
What are the features of an effective service
system?

• 3 levels which interact
• Individual service providers
• Wider agency work
• Service system

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What makes an effective service provider?

• Technical knowledge and skills
• Initiative
• Empathy

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Effective inter-agency work features

• Cooperation
• Collaboration
• Coordination
• Communication

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An effective overall service system requires

• A cohesive policy and legislative framework
• A balanced continuum of services encompassing
  prevention, early intervention and targeted
  services
• A geographic approach to building service
  integration at a manageable level, e.g.
  multi-service childrens service hubs which
  co-locate a range of services to facilitate a
  joined up approach
• Funding processes that do not result in program
  silos some capacity to pool funds to build
  service responses for complex multi-need clients,
  e.g. avoid exclusive reliance on parallel
  specialist services and ensure generic multi
  skilled service capacity
• Performance measures that support cross program
  effort
• Measure client outcomes not just process outputs