The Criminalisation of Children in Care in England/Wales, New South Wales, and Victoria

Mar 2024

You may be interested in: Care system Youth justice

What are the 10 essential elements of the Intensive Therapeutic Care System in NSW?
What are the 10 essential elements of the Intensive Therapeutic Care System in NSW?
Concepts of ‘complexity’ and ‘evidence’ are often heard in discussions that seek to find ways to better meet the needs of traumatised young people requiring more intensive forms of care....
Read more
Care criminalisation: issues and current research - Research brief
Care criminalisation: issues and current research - Research brief
Young people who are in, or have been in out-of-home care, particularly those with experience of living in residential care, are vulnerable to a number of negative outcomes, including having...
Read more
They came to us for care and left with a criminal record
They came to us for care and left with a criminal record
There is a nexus between living in Out of Home Care (OOHC) and being involved with the criminal justice system. In NSW children and young people in OOHC have been...
Read more
Leaving Care: What we know and don’t know about outcomes for young people
Leaving Care: What we know and don’t know about outcomes for young people
The research is clear: young people do not fare well when they leave care. Study after study, both in Australia and internationally, tells us that our care leavers are more...
Read more
The 10 essential elements of Intensive Therapeutic Care NSW - Practice guide
The 10 essential elements of Intensive Therapeutic Care NSW - Practice guide
This guide has been developed to describe the 10 Essential Elements that form the basis for Intensive Therapeutic Care (ITC) service provision in NSW. The 10 Essential Elements have been...
Read more
Client mix and matching in intensive therapeutic care
Client mix and matching in intensive therapeutic care
Young people living in residential care are highly vulnerable and have commonly experienced a significant level of trauma and abuse. They often present with complex needs and a range of...
Read more
Minimum age of criminal responsibility in the ACT
Minimum age of criminal responsibility in the ACT
  This submission addresses the question of whether the age of criminal responsibility (MACR) should be increased and submits that the age should be raised from 10 years old to...
Read more
Pulse check survey
Pulse check survey
The ITC Pulse Check Survey and Outcome Report provides a point-in-time reflection on the experiences of the reform process by ITC agency staff. To this end, the survey results clearly...
Read more
‘Drop and run’ - the experience of kinship carers in the Australian child protection system
‘Drop and run’ - the experience of kinship carers in the Australian child protection system
Recent research was conducted by the Southern Cross University and the Centre for Excellence in Therapeutic Care (McPherson, Gatwiri, Day, Parmenter, Mitchell & Macnamara, 2022) into the experience of kinship...
Read more
‘There was no support’: Getting kinship care support right
‘There was no support’: Getting kinship care support right
We did not and am still not receiving support requested or needed. Case managers or staff change without us being informed. Phone messages left at their offices and drop in...
Read more
Trauma, loss and parenting – care leavers’ experiences of having their own children during transitions from care
Trauma, loss and parenting – care leavers’ experiences of having their own children during transitions from care
This post is written by Jade Purtell, a multidisciplinary researcher and practitioner focused on out-of-home care and transitions from care experiences and policy. This research is funded by an Australian Government...
Read more
Extending care support past age 18 to 21
Extending care support past age 18 to 21
How old were you when you moved out of home for the first time? Did you continue to get support from home, perhaps for an emergency loan, help to file...
Read more
Agenda for Change: Ensuring a safe and supportive out-of-home care system for children and young people in New South Wales
Agenda for Change: Ensuring a safe and supportive out-of-home care system for children and young people in New South Wales
A system in crisis: A call for transformation The out-of-home care system in New South Wales (NSW) should be a safe haven for children, young people and families. It is...
Read more
Let’s Talk About the Summer Holiday – a poem about detention
Let’s Talk About the Summer Holiday – a poem about detention
"Let’s talk about the summer holiday, even though I’m in detention in was still fun aye. Because it was so hot, there was no time to use the indoor gym...
Read more
Submission to the NSW Advocate for Children and Young People: Special Inquiry: Children and Young People in Alternative Care Arrangements (ACAs)
Submission to the NSW Advocate for Children and Young People: Special Inquiry: Children and Young People in Alternative Care Arrangements (ACAs)
Alternative Care Arrangements are the symptom of a care system in crisis ACAs have no place in a modern trauma-informed and child-centred out-of-home care system. The retention of foster carers...
Read more
The effective and efficient approach to preventing placement breakdowns
The effective and efficient approach to preventing placement breakdowns
For children with complex trauma, the out-of-home care sector is more often reactive rather than proactive or preventative. Not many programs exist to provide significant early intervention support, as opposed...
Read more
When systems designed to protect do harm
When systems designed to protect do harm
What comes to mind when you think about the child protection or youth justice system?  Protection and safeguarding? Rehabilitation? Trauma-informed care? These two complex and often interacting systems are intended...
Read more
Women in Leadership: Fiona Atkins at Ashley Youth Detention Centre
Women in Leadership: Fiona Atkins at Ashley Youth Detention Centre
The care of young people in detention has been a focus in the media both in Australia and overseas. Media reports have highlighted inadequate levels of care and abuse of...
Read more
Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility - alternative diversion model
Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility - alternative diversion model
The focus of this submission The Australian Childhood Foundation and Centre for Excellence in Therapeutic Care (CETC) are dedicated to upholding the rights of children and helping them to heal...
Read more
Student spotlight: John Gallagher on Youth Justice
Student spotlight: John Gallagher on Youth Justice
Over the past year, the Centre for Excellence in Therapeutic Care has launched its first blended learning program, CHC40521 - Certificate IV in Youth Justice.Dan Howell, Senior Manager for Training,...
Read more
And the recommendations are… systemic reform towards providing therapeutic care, again
And the recommendations are… systemic reform towards providing therapeutic care, again
The Australian Institute of Family Studies recently released a report titled Improving the Safety and Wellbeing of Vulnerable Children: A Consolidation of Systemic Recommendations and Evidence. This report aims to...
Read more
Tough talk, weak evidence: Victoria’s step backward on the minimum age
Tough talk, weak evidence: Victoria’s step backward on the minimum age
The Centre for Excellence in Therapeutic Care (CETC) is confounded, disappointed and seriously concerned about the Victorian Government’s backflip on raising the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility (MACR) in Victoria....
Read more
Trauma-informed... youth detention? The realities of reform
Trauma-informed... youth detention? The realities of reform
Last week, CETC facilitated an insightful panel about trauma-informed care and young people in youth detention. CETC welcomed Joanne O’Connor, Associate Professor Tim Moore and Murray Robinson to share their...
Read more
The overlooked crisis of FASD hiding in youth justice and out-of-home care
The overlooked crisis of FASD hiding in youth justice and out-of-home care
In Australia, children and young people with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in out-of-home care are at critically greater risk of getting involved with the youth justice system. The issues...
Read more
Senate inquiry into Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system
Senate inquiry into Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system
The Centre for Excellence in Therapeutic Care (CETC) has submitted its response to the Senate Inquiry into Australia’s Youth Justice and Incarceration System. This submission highlights the urgent need for...
Read more
National, unified approach needed to reform youth justice
National, unified approach needed to reform youth justice
The past year has seen alarming regressions across Australia in youth justice policy, with some governments moving towards more punitive measures and stepping back from evidence-based reforms like raising the...
Read more
Help Way Earlier! The 24 recommendations from the Australian Children's Commissioner
Help Way Earlier! The 24 recommendations from the Australian Children's Commissioner
In August 2024, the Australian Children’s Commissioner released the report ‘Help Way Earlier!' How Australia can transform child justice to improve the safety and wellbeing of children. The report investigates...
Read more
A Traumatised Organisation: The system as a client
A Traumatised Organisation: The system as a client
The concept of organisations as living systems is not new. Extensive work, particularly in the area of systems thinking, has brought this perspective into the limelight.Out-of-home care (OOHC) organisations are...
Read more