Discussion Paper: Australia’s children: safe and well

We work closely with government and community service providers in the area, including NSW Police. We also provide legal assistance and referrals to families of
children at risk who come to the attention involved with NSW Department of Community Services (“DoCS”), and through our Women’s Domestic Violence Court Assistance Scheme (“WDVCAS”) we also provide a range of legal and support services to women and children at risk of violence, abuse and homelessness. It is from this position that we note that many in the community feel as though little is being done to improve the condition of children at risk.

While Redfern Legal Centre welcomes national leadership efforts to create change to children at risk in NSW we note that it must be accompanied by a genuine process to consult with communities and acknowledge the issues that concern them. We therefore make a number of recommendations to create the change needed, including:

• Stronger prevention focus: early intervention, prevention and parenting 
• Better collaboration between services
• Improving responses for children in care and leaving care
• Improving responses for Aboriginal children
• Attracting and retaining the right workforce
• Improving child protection systems