9.1.1 The universal system and the wellbeing of children in NSW
During the five years of Kts, the wellbeing of the overall child population in nsW has improved in a number of dimensions, especially for children in their early years. thus, Kts has been implemented in context of improved outcomes for children in nsW. these improvements cannot be attributed to Kts. improvements are not fully attributable even to universal services and are likely to be influenced by broader social and demographic trends. however, it is not known whether the most vulnerable children have benefited to the same extent as the broader child population.
9.1.2 Prevention and early intervention
Kts has implemented a range of reforms which have helped to ensure that vulnerable children who are likely to encounter the child protection system are identified early and diverted to appropriate early intervention services. for those children who receive these preventive services, outcomes appear to be positive and many of the projects have led to reduced rates of subsequent reporting to the helpline. however, the evaluations of many of these interventions did not provide reliable enough findings to make a definitive statement in this respect.
the cost-effectiveness analysis shows that the largest impact of Kts investment is for younger children aged 0-5 years, where an overall Kts investment increase of $100 per child within a community is significantly associated with a decrease of nine children and young people reported at ROsh per 1000 children in the population.
9.1.3 Protecting children at ROSH
there are encouraging signs that a number of reforms (not all of them Kts funded) have improved outcomes for children at ROsh. Re-reports of children appear to be decreasing, and many of the projects funded to support these children have been positively evaluated. alternative Dispute Resolution and other changes to the children’s court appear to have improved the experience of families during care and protection proceedings.
although the number of children in out-of-home care has increased, fewer children who were not previously known to community services appear to be entering out-of-home care, especially younger children. this is likely to result in a reduction in the number of children in out-of-home care over time. there are also positive indications that the well-being of children in out-of-home care is improving and fewer children re-enter out-of-home care after being restored to their families. several Kts indicators relating to this population were not available to the evaluation and there are no direct indicators of wellbeing for this population, so these findings are tentative.
9.1.4 Aboriginal children
the Kts indicator analysis shows that there have been improvements in outcomes for aboriginal children (annex a). Outcomes for aboriginal children have improved at the same rate as for non-aboriginal children. if the considerable existing gaps in outcomes were to close, aboriginal children’s outcomes would have to improve at a greater rate than non-aboriginal children.
With regard to Kts, the consultations and project evaluations confirm that, in many ways, there has been considerable progress in areas such as consultations with aboriginal communities and building the capacity of aboriginal organisations. however, the challenges are considerable and progress has not been uniform. this process is likely to take some time and it was perhaps not realistic to expect more in
in the child protection system, the gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal children does seem to be narrowing, especially for young children. the unit record analysis of children without prior histories of child protection involvement shows some notable overall improvements for aboriginal children (subsequent report rate; rate of entry to out-of-home care). however, aboriginal children still tend to experience worse outcomes across a range of child protection indicators.
child protection responsiveness to reports of ROsh to aboriginal children has improved. there has been an increase in the proportion of aboriginal children at ROsh who get a face-to-face assessment following a report to the helpline. this is despite the fact that aboriginal children are less likely to have a response priority of less than 24 hours than non-aboriginal children.
9.1.5 System and cultural change: Interagency collaboration and information exchange
there is compelling evidence that Kts has led to substantial changes in the way agencies collaborate to prevent harm to children and to intervene early to divert them from being involved in the child protection system. Before Kts, interagency collaboration was sporadic and information exchange was hampered by bureaucratic hurdles and agency policies. the amendments to chapter 16a of the Children and Young
Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 have facilitated significant shifts in the way agencies other than
community services take responsibility for protecting children. information sharing between agencies has improved across the board. the cWus are highly valued by their agencies and have helped to change the culture of reporting towards one of early intervention and collaboration. the mRG has also been an important innovation which appears to have been successful in improving the reliability and validity of reports to the helpline and has provided a common language to discuss cases and agree on the risks to the child. there are many examples of local initiatives to improve collaboration such as local interagency panels to discuss cases and broader service provision. although these are not always directly funded by Kts, Kts has provided the impetus for these initiatives to develop. at a strategic level, interagency planning is far more common than previously, and the nGO sector is far more integrated into service provision and service planning in the prevention and early intervention and out-of-home care domains.