Actions from the Child Protection Legal Aid Services Review

The Child Protection Legal Aid Services Review has identified 36 actions for change that we will take.

The actions we have committed to will mean that children, young people, parents and carers can benefit from services that are more effective, high quality and as widely available as possible.

The report identifies six main themes that need action.

Purpose

A clear and shared understanding of why we provide legal help with child protection matters will better frame our work going forward and lead to improved outcomes.

Read Actions from the Child Protection Legal Aid Services Review – Purpose

Client-focussed services

We want children, young people, parents and carers to be more involved and have a greater voice in decisions that can have a serious life-changing impact on them.

Read Actions from the Child Protection Legal Aid Services Review – Client-focussed services

Timely intervention

We want people to get assistance when they need it. This means not just focusing on cases that go to court. It might mean providing help when the Department of Health and Human Services is first involved, or it could involve supporting children after a court case is finished.

It is particularly important that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families have timely access to good quality legal help.

Read Actions from the Child Protection Legal Aid Services Review – Timely intervention

Quality and support

We want to better support lawyers who work in child protection with more training, new and improved processes, and ongoing opportunities for engagement.

Read Actions from the Child Protection Legal Aid Services Review – Quality and support

Client access

We want to work with others to increase the availability of services across Victoria for children, young people, parents and carers involved the child protection system.

Read Actions from the Child Protection Legal Aid Services Review – Client access

Improving processes

We will work with the Children’s and Magistrates’ Court of Victoria, the Department of Health and Human Services and others to ensure the system focuses on the needs of families.

Read Actions from the Child Protection Legal Aid Services Review – Improving processes

When will actions be implemented?

Not all actions can be implemented at once. Some will take time to develop, while others can only be implemented after others have been implemented.

You can track our progress against implementing these actions under the six main themes.

We expect that the implementation of actions will happen over a number of years.

Hear from Nicole Rich on child protection

You can also read:

• Action highlights of the Child Protection Legal Aid Services Review.