Leading experts, service providers and community leaders have come together at a two-day symposium to help shape how Victoria reforms its support for vulnerable families and children.
Minister for Families and Children Jenny Mikakos welcomed participants to the Andrews Labor Government’s Roadmap for Reform: Strong Families, Safe Children symposium aimed at testing and refining reform directions.
The Roadmap is examining Victoria’s child protection and family services system from the ground up to strengthen and improve it.
It will drive a new vision and long-term plan to prevent neglect and abuse, intervene early, keep more families together and secure better futures for children who cannot live at home.
The symposium brought together experts and academia from family services, out-of-home care, early childhood education, and community services, and heard from young people and parents who have experienced these services first-hand.
Participants tested priorities, options and models and established the collaborative environment for the design and implementation of the Roadmap.
Over the past months, seven consultation sessions have been held across Victoria, with over two hundred people participating.
An Expert Advisory Group comprising experienced specialists in economics, children, families and early childhood services, clinical practice, academia, and commercial advisory is also contributing to the Roadmap.
This work builds on the Andrews Labor Government’s record $257 million funding boost to child protection and family services in the 2015–16 Victorian Budget – a 17 per cent increase on the previous year.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Families and Children Jenny Mikakos
“We are working closely with the sector to strengthen and improve Victoria’s child protection and family services system to make it more robust and sustainable.”
“This symposium will help develop an informed and practical plan to support our most vulnerable children and families.”
“This year’s budget provided the biggest boost in a decade for child protection and family services, but these issues run deeper than money – we need to examine our service delivery from the ground up to achieve better outcomes for children.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020