Women with Disabilities ACT has made a submission to the consultation process around the Changing the Children and Young People Act 2008 (Stage 2).
In the submission we have highlighted the following recommendations:
- Consider the proposed legislation reforms through the lens of family and domestic violence, considering how existing frameworks could be exploited by perpetrators, and strengthening or clarifying definitions of violence if required.
- Recognise that there are societal and institutional biases against parents with disabilities, and consider how principles such as the ‘best interests principle’ might be misapplied due to assumptions about capacity of parents with disabilities. Include safeguarding policies that work against these biases.
- Fund disability violence awareness training for child protection workers in the ACT.
- Consider how the child protection system can help parents to access resources to care for children with disabilities.
- Develop and fund accessible tools for children with disabilities to report experiences of abuse and neglect.
- Consider how supported decision making can be implemented as part of the child and youth participation principle.
- Review the updated processes such as the mandatory reporting threshold and restrictions on information sharing between institutions, and consider how they may impact children with disabilities.
- Fund individual advocates and disability liaison officers in the child protection system, and ensure that disability-informed advice is available to parents who are in contact with the system.
- Develop and fund support groups and information about parenting with a disability.
- Consider how increases in funding for income support, disability support and housing can prevent parents from being in contact with child protection in the first place.
The full submission is below.