Child protection
Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:24): (570) My question is for the Minister for Children. Minister, the Commission for Children and Young People’s report Let Us Learn: Systemic Inquiry into the Educational Experiences of Children and Young People in Out-of-Home Care found:
… disparities in educational outcomes that are as stark as they are shameful.
And that:
Across every measure, children in care are worse off.
Minister, what have you done to address this shameful record of ignoring the education of children in care?
Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:24): Thank you, Ms Crozier, for your question. It is indeed a pattern, but again I feel the need to reject the premise of your question, which is that we are ignoring the needs of children in care. From their health and wellbeing needs to their education needs, all needs of children in care are important, and in fact in many senses they are amplified by the fact that they are in our care system, because as we have talked about on many occasions in this chamber, children in care are amongst the most vulnerable children. They have missed out on many opportunities in various aspects of their lives along their journey. We consider it our absolute obligation to ensure that children in care receive the best possible care, and that includes the best possible education.
Every child in the care system has a care plan, and fundamental to their care plan is their education needs. I acknowledge the work of the commissioner for children and young people, and in fact I believe I am meeting with her again later this afternoon. I discuss these matters with her regularly, and her contribution through the Let Us Learn report is indeed important and has informed many of the considerations of both me and the Minister for Education. But we do have many ways in which, at a very tailored and individual level, we look at the needs of every child who is in care in relation to both their education and other aspects of their circumstances. The individual case of each child is different and the supports that they might need to achieve their education are different, and what is indeed an achievement and a milestone, as is the case for every child, is also different. The department and the community service organisations that partner with us in the delivery of care for children in the care system absolutely have first and foremost in their minds the health, wellbeing and education needs of every individual child in their care.
Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:27): Minister, thank you for that response. According to the commission’s report, only 25 per cent of children in care reach year 12 and they receive substantially lower NAPLAN results across all year levels and domains. The question is: when will vulnerable children in the state’s care receive an education they deserve and improve on those results?
Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Children, Minister for Disability) (12:27): Thank you, Ms Crozier. At the risk of repeating myself – and I would not necessarily expect those opposite to have a full appreciation of this, sadly – achievement is measured in many different ways and is very much individualised for each and every child, whether they are in the care system or not. For each and every child in our education system, including those children in care, but particularly for children in care from the perspective of the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing and the perspective of our community service organisation partners that also make up the care teams for these children, how we measure the success for one child is different on each and every occasion. Their care plans take into consideration the support that each and every child needs to achieve their full potential, which is absolutely the goal for each and every child in care.