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Residential care children getting criminal records for minor incidents, report finds
The teenage girl hurled the phone against the wall and it smashed into pieces. She was furious that a worker in the residential house where she lived had disconnected it while she was in the middle of a conversation.
So the residential home worker called the police, who charged her with criminal damage and discharging a missile.
If the girl had grown up in a typical family household, her parents might have shouted at her or sent her to her room. But Jess* had to be removed from her childhood home after suffering torturous abuse at the hands of a sadistic stepfather.
Many young people who cannot live with their parents are being slapped with criminal records for relatively minor outbursts like smashing a cup or a sink plug, a report from Victorian Legal Aid shows.
And too many children are entering the legal system for incidents that traditional families would handle at home, says Victoria Legal Aid executive director of children's law, Nicole Rich.
The report, based on a review of Victoria Legal Aid's own data, showed that charging children increased the likelihood of future arrests and established a "precedent of interaction" with the justice system.
"These are kids who need a lot of support and sometimes they do have challenging behaviours," she said.
Victoria Legal Aid wants new procedures for residential care staff to avoid the need to call police and risk criminal charges.
But Ms Rich said it was appropriate for residential care staff to call police in some cases.
"There are clearly going to be incidents that do warrant a police response particularly if staff or other residents are at risk," she said.
The report found 30 per cent of children Victoria Legal Aid assisted in out-of-home care returned for help to deal with a criminal matter. By comparison, just 18 per cent returned for legal help among those who remained with their parents.
Some children from out-of-home care were spending lengthy periods in custody on remand even if charges are subsequently withdrawn.
The report was launched as debate rages about the state of Victoria's youth justice system after recent riots in youth detention centres.
Children placed in out-of-home care are considered among Victoria's most vulnerable, many having experienced traumas that can include sexual, physical and emotional abuse.
The report said there are currently 8000 children in Victoria living in out-of-home care, including those in residential and foster care or living with relatives other than their parents.
Residential care is provided by paid staff, typically in group homes with up to six children.
In residential care, Jess resorted to drugs and wagging school because she felt nobody cared about her. She received her first criminal charge after a scuffle with a worker but that was dropped.
Fairfax Media has contacted the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.
Victoria Legal Aid did praise a state government overhaul of residential care, which it said would go some way towards addressing problems in the system.
Although the study did not distinguish between different types of care, the service said anecdotal suggestions indicated children in residential care were most likely to be charged.
A spokeswoman for the department said the government was working to improve "outcomes" for children in out-of-home care and reduce and reduce the number of young people in residential care.
She said the government's "ambitious" $168 million reform plan was introduced last year and would shift the focus from crisis prevention to early intervention.
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