Biff CYFS – the solution

United Future leader Peter Dunne and family affairs spokeswoman Judy Turner today unveiled an innovative and detailed proposed successor the terminally ailing CYFS.

“This system has failed. It needs to be torn down and we need to start again and do it properly this time,” Mr Dunne said.

The new structure proposed by United Future would include:

A dual track approach – comprising both a child protection and family support system. Split caseload between these tracks.

Rebuild a child protection agency – working more closely with the police.

Family Support co-ordinators able to do needs assessments and refer cases with lower level risks/needs to a range of NGOs and support systems.

Develop Family Centres (“one stop shops”) bringing together key services and involving the community.

Public education campaigns promoting parenting skills – to be run by the Families Commission.

Mr Dunne said the policy document had been constructed, taking the best of a number of successful overseas systems, notably in Australia and the United States, and with significant input from organisations and individuals working at the coalface.

“This is a way forward, putting children first,” Mrs Turner said.

“This is a way to help bring to an end the tragedies of the young names we have come to know so well for all the wrong reasons,” she said.

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