Court gives DHS a spray

Concerns not passed up chain

A MAGISTRATE gave the Human Services Department a damning report card at a Children’s Court hearing yesterday, saying it is “failing” and he wants it reported to management.

During a bail application for a 14-year-old girl on numerous theft and assault charges, the magistrate told the department it needed to “look at themselves and their conduct in this matter”.

The court heard the teenager had been remanded in custody after assaulting a victim in the street and was already out on bail over numerous theft and damages charges.

A police informant told the bail hearing they were concerned she had been sexually exploited.

“The main issue we have is with alcohol thefts and associating with particular people,” he said.

“And obviously the intervention order against a gentleman that DHS were concerned about, that she was sexually exploited and providing acts in return for drugs and alcohol.”

He said a DHS worker had visited the girl in remand on Monday and she had been deemed not suitable for secure housing.

“They made an assessment of whether or not she was going to go to secure housing, they stated it didn’t meet their criteria to warrant her going to secure housing in Melbourne,” the informant said.

He said he believed the teenager would be safer in custody than if she were released.

The teenager’s DHS case worker gave evidence in court and said she had thought the teenager was at risk but this was not passed up to management.

She said the risks she had been worried about were “substance use, potential exploitation, frequent absconding from her placement. Over the past days and week there’s been several warrants and arrest”.

“This assessment was not passed up through my management, so it wasn’t secured,” she said.

The magistrate told the case worker to pass on his comments about the failing system on to her manager.

“The department system is failing, I’ll go as far as saying that. Full stop,” he said.

“And I’d like the case worker to go back and pass that on to her line manager.”

He said the department’s lack of resources and “willingness to set up a program where she is properly protected by the state” was nowhere near good enough.

“I strongly suggest the department look at themselves and their conduct in this matter,” he said.

The magistrate denied bail and remanded the 14-year-old to appear before the court later in the month.