A Tasmanian study has revealed that 20 per cent of mothers who have a child removed by Child Protection Services will go on to have subsequent children removed.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Anglicare Tasmania’s Breaking The Cycle report further showed removals without adequate levels of support for the parent increased the risk of a rapid successive pregnancy.
Research showed for teenage mothers who had children removed, more than one-third would experience recurrent removal.
Through interviews with mothers, it was ascertained that there were collateral consequences after a removal which made it different for reunification to be achieved.
This included a loss of income from government child support which impacted a mother’s ability to afford housing as well as a lack of support for legal process and dealing with grief and loss.
“Unless parents are on a reunification path there is little support available to them to assist in dealing with removal and its consequences,” the report said.
The current system results in children being unnecessarily kept from their families by poverty.
- Lindsey Fidler
Report author Theresa Hinton made recommendations about improved court and legal processes for families and how to support families maintain positive relationships with their children while they are in out-of-home care.
“The key is being able to provide intensive support when their children are removed,” she said.
Ms Hinton said despite a range of programs and services provided, none were targeted specifically towards the families involved in the study.
“There is an enormous social and economic cost in not addressing recurrent removal, and unless we have a policy change and a mandate to support parents, that human and economic cost will be ongoing,” she said.
The report has recommended an expansion of Anglicare’s Pathway Home program, which works to reunify families in the North and North-West after a referral from Child Safety Services.
Ms Hingston said there could be issues with the referral process to the program.
Anglicare released another report in tandem with Breaking The Cycle called In Limbo.
Report author Lindsey Fidler said the new research showed most families who had a child removed and placed in out-of-home-care experienced a dramatic reduction in income and put them in a position where they could not longer afford to maintain a family home.
“The drop in income and loss of housing often stalls family reunification – extending the trauma for everyone involved.
“The current system results in children being unnecessarily kept from their families by poverty.”