VICTORIA — The commission for children and young people identified 35 children who died after interacting with the child protection system in Victoria. These deaths followed cycles of referrals to voluntary services and closed reports within the system.
The commission found that these 35 children were subjects of 267 child protection reports, with 231 of those reports closed during the intake or investigation stages. Commissioner for Children and Young People Tracy Beaton said, "The commission has continued to see report after report to child protection with ultimately no improvement in the lives of children and young people. That needs to change." Calls to child protection services increased from 118,096 in the 2021-2022 period to approximately 151,000 in the 2024-2025 period. In 2025, 75 percent of all reports involved children who had been previously reported.
A state auditor general report indicated that child protection services have been hindered by data that is delayed, inaccurate, and incomplete. Requests by the child protection department for government funding to address data system issues have not been approved. The out-of-home care system is not fully meeting children's needs, according to the report. Kinship care accounts for 81.7 percent of child placements in the state, and carer payments are the lowest among Australian states.
Anne McLeish, director of Kinship Carers Victoria, said, "The assessments of the needs of children are inadequate, and the amount of money attached to children who have high level needs is totally inadequate. The lack of data is stunning. I dare say that the system doesn't even accurately know where some of the children that they're responsible for are living."
The commission also found that voluntary family services were unable to engage with 58 percent of children referred to them. Funding for voluntary family services covered one-third of the demand in the last financial year. Jiselle Hanna, state secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union, said, "Despite their best work, ultimately the needs of our most vulnerable children are not being met. Staff and carer burnout is common. It is due to chronic understaffing, underfunding and increasing pressure."
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said, "We're seeing a system that, unfortunately, continues to fail the most vulnerable children in our society. We need to do better."