Tasmanian children as young as 12 are "self-selecting" to live in potentially abusive and exploitative situations with older people rather than use the out of home care system.
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In one example provided to the Commission of Inquiry, a 14-year-old girl was living with a 60-year-old man who "has exploited her", but the Child Safety Service had deemed that it was her choice to make.
Anglicare Tasmania's supported youth program engages with 70 children in the North and North-West aged 10 to 18 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, putting workers in touch with children who may have left out of home care.
Anglicare regional manager of community services Jodie Stokes said these children were at high risk of exploitation, and many were too young to realise the danger they were in.
She said they would contact the Advice and Referral Line to raise a "wellbeing concern" if situations seemed unsafe - once a week in some cases - but were often told the child was "self-selecting".
"A young person who is going through adolescence and going through their brain being rewired are not always capable of making those decisions," Ms Stokes said.
"It is quite frustrating at the time when we're told that they're self-selecting, because then that means the option of residential care or foster care for that young person is not an option through child safety.
"Then we have to look at other options, maybe a shelter, that's usually only six to eight weeks. There really isn't a lot of options in Tasmania for under-16 young people that are homeless."
In the example of the 14-year-old girl, she had chosen to live with the older man due to it being "a lot safer" than living with her parents.
Anglicare does not have the power to compel a child to make a decision due to it being a voluntary service, but the Child Safety Service can step in if it chooses.
Ms Stokes said the system should be responding more to these children.
"If the child especially is under 14, there really is no safe situation unless child safety are working with them, in our view," she said.
But in the North and North-West, these services are limited. It means organisations like Anglicare are having to expand the scope of their work to cover the gaps.
"The further you get away from the South, and up into the North-West, there's less services to engage in," Ms Stokes said.
"Often our workers are doing more on behalf of the young person because those services might not be available, or have got a long waiting list."
Child safety worker repeatedly breached boundaries with children
Two people who worked in child protection services spoke of their concerns about a worker who allegedly breached boundaries with children repeatedly with the knowledge of management, who did not stop it occurring.
The worker had children stay with him overnight which a manager had "unofficially approved", gave a child a gift and told them to keep it "secret", requested an ongoing relationship with a child after no longer being involved with their case and would ignore manager directions.
One individual who worked with him in the former Department of Health and Human Services - who did not wish to be identified - said the boundary breaches were raised with managers, but they were told it was "nothing to worry about".
Commission of Inquiry into child sexual abuse in Tasmania:
- Girl first faced abusive teacher, then James Griffin at LGH
- Mother's LGH nurse complaint ignored, daughter left 'screaming'
- Tasmania to bring in US-style therapy for at-risk youth
- How a 'confusing' web of integrity bodies could harm oversight in Tasmania
- Tasmanian children put back in abusive homes due to system failures
- 'Cultures of hate': gender diverse child accosted in school
- Anatomy of a failure: how teacher abuse allegations were ignored
- Four schools raise concerns about relief teacher's conduct, no action taken
- Abuse victims lose out over government's 'aggressive' approach
"It worries me because boundary breaches are such an important matter that requires addressing in the child safety and out of home care space immediately," she said.
"In organisations where boundaries are not adhered, it creates an environment for potential sexual abuse ... I don't know anything about whether [he] is a potential abuser, but we know there are opportunities being created by these boundary breaches."
Clinical practice consultant Jack Davenport also outlined his concerns about the worker, including them having long-term contact with children without adequate oversight.
He said managers appeared intimidated by the worker and reluctant to address the behaviour.
"There were lots of oblique references to concerns about him in conversation but no defensive action being taken to manage his performance or deal with those issues," Mr Davenport said.
"It was those kind of behaviours where, at the very least, a clear breach of any real boundaries, putting a child in a very difficult situation, no oversight, completely inappropriate insertion into their life as well.
"Very troubling behaviour."
The former DHHS worker also outlined her concerns with the way in which a child-on-child sexual assault incident was responded to in the 2000s.
A child safety officer was unaware that forensic medical practitioners could have assessed the girl, and they instead came to the conclusion that the sexual assault was not forced, and the boy's actions would not be investigated.
Instead, the boy was referred to family planning to be given training in saying "no" to girls.
The worker said departmental staff had an "intense level of discomfort" when discussing the matter, and this affected their decision-making.
"This is one of the most frustrating cases I think I've ever had the experienced of in my career," the woman said.
"It was so obvious to me that there had been a serious assault perpetrated by a young boy, and while I wasn't looking to blame or sanction that child, he actually needed intervention to support him to understand that that behaviour was wrong."
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