Latest news with #vulnerablechildren
ABC News
3 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Parents able to 'manipulate' child support system free of consequences: ombudsman report
Australia's child support system has been weaponised for financial abuse that is "amplified" by Services Australia, according to a Commonwealth Ombudsman's investigation. That abuse included parents not making payments, not filing tax returns to disguise income, lying to reduce income and being abusive or violent to stop a parent seeking help. This abuse was amplified by a tax system that calculated income assuming all support payments were made — even if they weren't — and by procedures at Services Australia that could disclose sensitive information to ex-partners, the report found. "This is really important because child support is all about children — vulnerable children — who need to be financially supported while they're growing up," Ombudsman Iain Anderson said. In Australia more than 1.2 million separated parents have an arrangement that sees one parent pay the other to assist with the costs of raising an estimated one million children. Services Australia is responsible for about half of those arrangements through the Child Support program, with the rest in what is called Private Collect, where one parent directly pays the other. The Ombudsman's report, released exclusively to ABC News, concluded that Services Australia was acting in an "unfair and unreasonable manner" in not using available powers to stop widespread financial abuse. "This passive approach is unfair. It allows some paying parents to manipulate the system to avoid their financial responsibility in raising their children, largely without consequences," the report concluded. The amount of money some parents are avoiding paying is big. Mr Anderson said 153,000 parents had a combined $1.9 billion in outstanding child support debts in December last year. The report showed outstanding payments disproportionately impacted mothers — with 84 per cent of those receiving payments being female. The Ombudsman's report made eight recommendations, including having Services Australia track financial abuse and use its enforcement powers to claw back the $1.9 billion in unpaid child support. Current Services Australia processes can require a parent to tell their non-paying ex-partner their location or workplace, which can be abused by non-paying parents and re-traumatise parents who have experienced domestic violence, the Ombudsman said. "They have and go through these very burdensome processes, so that in itself can exacerbate previous abuse," Mr Anderson said. "We've certainly had complainants who said to them that this made them feel very unsafe and they in fact withdrew from processes and rather than seeking to pursue unpaid child support." Do you have a story to share? Email Jane (not her real name), a single mother of three from Canberra, said she has gone through experiences like that. "That's the way I felt and again the scrutiny was on myself and what I had submitted. The focus was not on the needs of the children." Jane said she almost walked away from seeking extra support for her youngest child, who has significant medical needs, because the demands for documentation were so onerous. "The forgotten party in all of this is actually the children. I think that's a really important point," she said. The Ombudsman's report called for a legislative fix to force Services Australia to make the system fairer. Currently, Services Australia is required to assume all child support has been paid when assessing eligibility for tax concessions for parents like Family Tax Benefit A. This can result in parents having a tax debt for child support they are owed but did not receive, a process the Ombudsman said "absolutely" victimised parents. "This is unfair and places those parents at a double disadvantage — in effect amplifying the impact of the financial abuse they are suffering through the actions of their former partner," the report concluded. Services Australia currently has a restriction, allowing it to collect just three months of unpaid child support if a parent changed from private collection to the government system. The report recommended legislation that would also lift that restriction. Legislative fixes were also required to allow debts to be recovered from bank accounts held in joint names, allow better information sharing between agencies and track domestic violence, the report said. In a statement, a Services Australia spokesperson said it fully accepted the recommendations and would be working to implement them between December 2025 and June 2026. "Financial abuse and all forms of family and domestic violence are serious and damaging issues affecting many of our customers," the spokesperson said. "While legislation limits some of the improvements we can make, we acknowledge there's work we can do within the existing policy to better support parents who are Child Support customers and their children." In a statement on behalf of the Social Services and Government Services ministers Tanya Plibersek and Katy Gallagher, a spokesperson acknowledged child support was being used to "exploit and traumatise women" and that the government was acting. "We are currently undertaking a number of reviews across the Child Support Scheme, looking closely at compliance, with a focus on income accuracy, collection and enforcement," the spokesperson said. "This work will be finalised in the coming months and will help inform future reforms to ensure that the Child Support Scheme cannot be misused as a vehicle for ongoing financial control or abuse after separation." Terese Edwards, CEO of Single Mother Families Australia, has long lobbied for change and said several inquiries over the decades have identified similar flaws. "The child support system has been a problem for decades. That's witnessed in the $1.9 billion debt owed to children," Ms Edwards said. The organisation said it was optimistic there was growing momentum for major changes to child support following a recent inquiry into the Australian Tax Office and a parliamentary one into financial abuse. "The [payment] levels are so unrealistically low and unreliable, to the point that banking institutions don't use that income when they're looking at income coming in," Ms Edwards said. "Also, real estate agencies don't take it into account when they're looking at rental properties."
Irish Times
22-05-2025
- Irish Times
Failure to provide secure care beds for children at risk an ‘affront to the rule of law'
The ongoing failure of Tusla , the Child and Family Agency, to provide secure care beds to the most at risk, vulnerable children is an 'affront to the rule of law', a High Court judge has said. Judge John Jordan, presiding over the weekly 'no beds' list on Thursday, heard updates on three children in respect of whom secure care orders have been made but who cannot get a bed due to staff shortages. The hearing comes a week after an inquest jury, which found Daniel McAnaspie (17) died by unlawful killing while in the care of the State, recommended increased funding for Tusla to ensure timely access to secure care for the most at risk young people. Meath coroner's court heard the boy, who was murdered in Blanchardstown in February 2010 and his decomposed body found in Co Meath three months later, had 'begged' to be taken into secure care in the months before his death. READ MORE Three applications by social workers for secure care were refused by a HSE special care committee due to lack of beds. A child or young person who is deemed to be at such a risk to themselves, or others, as to need therapeutic residential care may be detained in secure care by the High Court. On Thursday Judge Jordan heard a 15-year-old boy with a neuro-developmental disorder was 'free-falling'. His father believed without secure care the boy 'will die', the court heard. The boy is misusing alcohol and drugs, was found in possession of detergent tablets 'for no reason', is engaging with a family with criminal links, has been assaulted and needs dental care for knocked-out teeth. He faces 90 criminal charges. A 16-year-old girl who is self-harming and has attempted suicide, has been 'drawn into a life of criminality, drug dealing ... dealing in crack cocaine as a result of being ... exploited by a criminal gang', the judge said. She is at physical risk due to travelling in stolen cars and has been 'subjected to sexual exploitation'. Supports put in place for a 17-year-old girl for whom a secure bed order was made in November, were 'not keeping [her] safe'. Recently sexually abused by a person known to pose a risk to children, she was 'very, very reluctant' to be interviewed by gardaí, saying she 'had arranged for a vigilante beating to be delivered to the person she identified as the perpetrator instead', the court heard. She turns 18 next month, becoming ineligible for secure care. 'This is unsatisfactory,' the judge said. 'This child should have been in special care if the Child and Family Agency complied with the order they applied for ... That is an appalling situation and it is very difficult to argue [the girl] has not suffered as a result.' The judge said he was 'tired of the excuses and the platitudes' from the agency. 'Children are suffering and it is known they are suffering,' he said. 'Nobody, no judge should have to sit and listen to anyone, not least the State or an embodiment of the State, attempting to excuse noncompliance with a court order which they applied for and obtained.' The court heard the number of secure care beds had fallen in recent weeks, from 15 to 14. There are 26 such beds but 12 remain closed due to staff shortages. The situation had 'gone backwards', said the judge. 'This system in crisis, this dysfunctional system is getting worse ... It is an indictment of the State that those special care beds are not available.' Legal representatives for Tusla, present in court, did not object to his comments.
BBC News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Saqib Bhatti MP calls for tougher sentence for child abuser Daniel Clarke
An MP has called for a longer jail sentence for a teaching assistant who sexually abused children with special educational needs and Clarke, 28, of Bloxwich near Walsall, was jailed last week for seven years and six months after pleading guilty to sexual offences against six vulnerable Bhatti, the Conservative MP for Meriden and Solihull East, said he had written to the Attorney General on Tuesday and asked for Clarke's sentence to be Attorney General's Office has been approached for comment. Bhatti's office said the MP was made aware of Clarke's case by constituents who had been directly Clarke's trial, prosecuting barrister Daniel Oscroft said the defendant had worked as a teaching assistant at a school in Solihull and, separately, as a personal assistant to several a statement, Bhatti said he had been "horrified" to learn of Clarke's crimes, and his current jail sentence did not reflect their "heinous and serious nature".The MP has asked for the sentence to be referred to the unduly lenient sentence scheme, which allows anyone to ask the Attorney General's Office to review a crown court sentence if they think it is too doing its review, the Attorney General's Office decides whether to send it on to the Court of Appeal, which can make a decision about the sentence. The scheme only applies to some crimes, such as murder and some child sex on behalf of police last week, Mr Oscroft said Clarke would almost certainly be charged with further offences and may have more than 81 victims. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
21-05-2025
- BBC News
Rawmarsh man given suspended sentence for Rotherham child sex offence
A man who engaged in sexual activity with a vulnerable 15-year-old girl in care has been handed a suspended prison Crown Court heard the victim was living at a children's home in Rotherham when the offence took place some time between 12 October and 1 December in Brzozowksi, now 35 and of Middle Avenue, Rawmarsh, admitted a charge of penetrative sexual activity with a child at the start of a Wednesday, he was sentenced to 21 months in prison, suspended for two years. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for 10 years and carry out 40 hours of rehabilitation Sarah Wright said she was satisfied there was a "reasonable prospect of rehabilitation" in light of his guilty plea and the fact that he had not offended since 2011. 'Isolated incident' The court heard the complainant had been exploited by men Brzozowksi was acquainted Wright said: "She willingly had sexual intercourse with you."The episode was short-lived as it was interrupted by another man who reacted in a violent manner when he saw the two of you together."Brzozowksi had been on trial with co-defendants Romulad Stefan Houphouet, 37, and Absalom Sigiyo, of Burngreave, Sheffield, was jailed for 20 years and Sigiyo, 41, of Catcliffe in Rotherham, for 18-and-a-half years for the rapes and sexual abuse of two Wright accepted Brzozowksi had "issues with functioning and understanding" and that his level of maturity at the time of the offence was "probably similar to that of the complainant".Judge Wright said: "You have not re-offended in any way since this isolated incident."Unlike the others, this was not a pattern of repeated and sustained behaviour." Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
BBC News
21-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
'The world opened up to me thanks to my foster carers'
A man who said his foster carers helped open up the world to him is urging other people to consider the role amid a crisis in support for vulnerable across the south west of England have launched their annual recruitment drive for foster carers. They say the overall numbers of people willing to take in a child have been falling as demand adults who grew up in care in Wiltshire have been speaking out about their experiences to raise Robbins urged people to "see our potential", while Cameron Draisey said his foster placement "made me who I am today". Ms Robbins said her foster parents helped open up the world to her."Obviously at the time that's not what it felt like, when they said 'you're going into care', I [said] 'well, I don't want to, you're not going to make me'," she being taken to her new foster family, she had been caring for an elderly relative, rarely attending school, and was often out late at night in her early teens."I'm feeling lucky and grateful, my foster carers could have gone 'she's just too much we can't deal with her', but actually they saw my potential," she Draisey recalls feeling "very reluctant" on his first day in care, having lived with his biological family for the first 14 years, but says he later "recognised that support was needed"."It was such a positive experience being in care, that one long term placement, I think its made me who I am today."I may have been quite challenging when I first went into care", he recalls, "but what you invest you do get out lots of positive experiences in the long term."Both Ms Robbins and Mr Draisey have joined Wiltshire Council's young voice participation service to help other families. Both are still close to their foster families as adults, and hope sharing their stories persuades others to think about fostering - because councils urgently need more foster England the number of foster households has fallen by nearly 2,000 since 2021, from about 44,600 to 42,615 in 2024."The crisis is because so many children and young people still need foster carers," said Sarah Thomas, the chief executive of the Fostering Network number of children needing to be looked after has increased by 30% since 2010, with about 83,630 children in care in Thomas said the solution is not simply about recruiting more foster carers, but "by ensuring better prevention and less likelihood of things coming to a crisis point, which comes back to investment in the social care system across the board". Meanwhile, Wiltshire Council's social worker Rachel Pearce said the complexity of behaviours and trauma of some cases nowadays is "so much higher than I have ever seen""The foster carers have got such a job to provide that consistency, that nurture, patience and understanding," she Codford near Warminster, foster carer Selina Kirkbride has looked after a total of eight children since 2017."I hold my hands up, there has been a couple of times when I've been thinking 'can I keep doing this', we've had some challenging times, but the support we've had has been amazing."To have the connection with them afterwards, to see how they're thriving and watching them grow, it's like we've got a big family," she said. Fostering is open to single people, couples, those with children, renters and homeowners.
