Dozens of vulnerable children were deemed not at risk by Victoria’s child protection system. They are now dead | Child protection
New reports show Victoria’s most at-risk children are falling through the cracks of a child protection system strained by rising demand and funding shortfalls; advocates warn of “striking” gaps in data and lack of carer support.
The state’s children and young people commissioner also raised the alarm over ineffective referral cycles to voluntary services and closed down reports of 35 cases of children dying after interacting with the system.
Commissioner Tracy Beaton said: “The commission has continued to see report after report of child protection issues with no improvement in the lives of children and young people. This needs to change.”
The commission’s report, presented to parliament on Thursday, came a day after the state auditor general released a report showing that the out-of-home care system was not fully meeting the needs of children.
The reports come less than a week after Guardian Australia reported on the inside of the kinship care system through the story of a Melbourne childcare worker who last year took on the care of a baby she barely knew, following a phone call from the child protection agency on Friday afternoon.
The auditor general found that the work of child protective services had long been hampered by delayed, inaccurate and incomplete data. The auditor general wrote that the problems directly hinder child protection workers’ ability to “make informed decisions, monitor placements, and provide effective child protection services.”
Despite numerous previous reports identifying such systemic problems, the ministry’s calls for the government to address these problems have been unsuccessful.
The number of foster carers has also fallen significantly, increasing pressure on the kinship care system, where the child is placed with a relative or close family friend, which now accounts for 81.7% of placements.
Carer payments in Victoria are the lowest in Australia and a major factor in the decline in carer numbers, the report says.
Kinship Carers Victoria director Anne McLeish said carers had long raised the issue of low payments. “The assessment of children’s needs is inadequate, and the money given to children with high-level needs is completely inadequate.
But McLeish said the “biggest criticism I would level at the department right now” was around issues with data.
“The lack of data is striking,” he said. “I would say the system doesn’t even know exactly where some of the children they are responsible for live.”
In a separate report presented on Thursday, the commission for children and young people found that children were caught in a “send and close” cycle where their cases were closed by child protection and instead referred to voluntary family services, leaving them unable to be engaged in 58% of cases.
In some cases, this was because parents refused to participate. In others, families were left unsupported by long waiting lists, as funding for these services covered only a third of demand in the last financial year, the commission found.
Meanwhile, calls to child protective services have increased steadily on an annual basis, rising from 118,096 in 2021-2022 to nearly 151,000 in 2024-2025. The subsequent escalation of pressure made it more difficult for child protection staff to comprehensively assess risk and make informed decisions, including whether to continue investigating a case, the report said; It was stated that this situation was “especially evident in cases involving negligence and cumulative damage.”
The commission also examined the cases of 35 children who had contact with child protection before their deaths. These children were the subject of 267 child protection reports, an average of eight each; 231 of these were closed at the acceptance or investigation stage.
“Many of these reports contained information on actual ongoing and/or increased risks to children and young people,” the commission said. “Despite this, child protection had not assessed that children or young people were at serious risk at the time the report was prepared.”
75% of all reports arriving at the child protection unit in 2025 concerned children who had previously been reported.
Community and Public Sector Union general secretary Jiselle Hanna said the reports confirmed what child protection workers had been telling the union for years.
“Despite their best work, ultimately the needs of our most vulnerable children are not being met. Staff and caregiver burnout is widespread. This is due to chronic understaffing, underfunding and increased pressure,” Hanna said.
“We have been sounding the alarm for a long time and now it is at its highest. The government needs to acknowledge these findings and fund and resource calm, consistent, early support to keep children safe at home and removal as a real last resort.”
Opposition leader Jess Wilson said on Thursday: “Unfortunately, we see a system that continues to fail the most vulnerable children in our society. We must do better.”
The Victorian government has been approached for comment.
Queensland Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm, On Thursday Crisafulli said the LNP government would reform the Adoption Act after yesterday setting up a months-long commission of inquiry into the state’s child safety system.
This morning he was asked about one of the commission’s most controversial recommendations: ending the legal principle that makes adoption a last resort for Indigenous children. The rule does not apply to non-Indigenous children.
Commissioner Paul Anastassiou said the government “must consolidate adoption as the third permanence option for all children, regardless of cultural background.” He acknowledged that this came amid “strong statements from First Nations stakeholders opposing adoption.”
Camm said he will “always put the interests of children first, regardless of their cultural background or wherever they live in the state.”
“We will take this advice to heart and push forward reforms that will benefit children.”
Additional reporting by Andrew Messenger
