❓ Hon. Sally Talbot questions the Minister for Child Protection regarding WA's refusal to participate in CREATE Foundation's annual report card on out-of-home care. The Minister defends the decision, citing concerns about the report card's methodology and promoting the use of Viewpoint.
AnsweredQoN 140Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
CREATE FOUNDATION — ANNUAL REPORT CARD
140. Hon SALLY
TALBOT to the Minister for Child Protection:
I refer to CREATE Foundation's
annual report card on how the states are responding to the needs of children in
out-of-home care.
(1) Is it true
that the WA government refused to participate in the survey, despite having allowed
this participation in all previous report cards?
(2) Is it true
that the government's refusal was conveyed to CREATE in a letter from
the director general of the Department for Child Protection dated 8 May 2012
saying that WA was concerned with receiving ''unwarranted criticism and
damaging media attention''?
(3) Is the
minister aware that every other state was involved in the 2013 report card?
(4) Why was WA
the only state to refuse to allow CREATE to interview children in care?
(5) Will the
minister commit to ensuring that WA participates in the next report card?
140. Hon SALLY
TALBOT to the Minister for Child Protection:
I refer to CREATE Foundation's
annual report card on how the states are responding to the needs of children in
out-of-home care.
(1) Is it true
that the WA government refused to participate in the survey, despite having allowed
this participation in all previous report cards?
(2) Is it true
that the government's refusal was conveyed to CREATE in a letter from
the director general of the Department for Child Protection dated 8 May 2012
saying that WA was concerned with receiving ''unwarranted criticism and
damaging media attention''?
(3) Is the
minister aware that every other state was involved in the 2013 report card?
(4) Why was WA
the only state to refuse to allow CREATE to interview children in care?
(5) Will the
minister commit to ensuring that WA participates in the next report card?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for some notice of the question.
(1) Yes.
CREATE report cards have been based on very small, self-selected samples and
are therefore considered to be skewed and unrepresentative. Rather than relying
on the CREATE survey, the Department for Child Protection and Family Support
has introduced Viewpoint to elicit information from children and young people
in care. Viewpoint is an international, comprehensive, interactive,
computer-assisted, self-interviewing tool that has been robustly evaluated as
an effective methodology for engaging with and eliciting information from
vulnerable and/or hard to reach children and young people in care. Viewpoint
both provides survey information and assists in case management.
(2) The
department advised CREATE that it was unwilling to participate in the survey
for a number of reasons, including that the previous survey involved poor
sampling, erroneously concluded that leaving care planning was not occurring
when it was and could not assist case management and that reporting overlooked
the impact of trauma on children in care affecting outcomes, and that therefore
the survey resulted in reporting that was misleading and consequently damaging.
(3) Yes.
However, in preparation for a national survey agreed by all jurisdictional
ministers as part of reporting in national out-of-home care standards, other
jurisdictions are now piloting Viewpoint as the preferred survey method for
children in care.
(4) Children
in care aged five years and over have the opportunity to participate in
Viewpoint, which provides a comprehensive reporting system that can be used by
the department for monitoring and planning against care planning dimensions,
including leaving care and for case management.
(5) The
department will participate in the planned national survey agreed by ministers.
It will continue to use Viewpoint as a key strategy for all children and young
people in care to have the opportunity to have their views heard and
participate in decisions that affect them.
(1) Yes.
CREATE report cards have been based on very small, self-selected samples and
are therefore considered to be skewed and unrepresentative. Rather than relying
on the CREATE survey, the Department for Child Protection and Family Support
has introduced Viewpoint to elicit information from children and young people
in care. Viewpoint is an international, comprehensive, interactive,
computer-assisted, self-interviewing tool that has been robustly evaluated as
an effective methodology for engaging with and eliciting information from
vulnerable and/or hard to reach children and young people in care. Viewpoint
both provides survey information and assists in case management.
(2) The
department advised CREATE that it was unwilling to participate in the survey
for a number of reasons, including that the previous survey involved poor
sampling, erroneously concluded that leaving care planning was not occurring
when it was and could not assist case management and that reporting overlooked
the impact of trauma on children in care affecting outcomes, and that therefore
the survey resulted in reporting that was misleading and consequently damaging.
(3) Yes.
However, in preparation for a national survey agreed by all jurisdictional
ministers as part of reporting in national out-of-home care standards, other
jurisdictions are now piloting Viewpoint as the preferred survey method for
children in care.
(4) Children
in care aged five years and over have the opportunity to participate in
Viewpoint, which provides a comprehensive reporting system that can be used by
the department for monitoring and planning against care planning dimensions,
including leaving care and for case management.
(5) The
department will participate in the planned national survey agreed by ministers.
It will continue to use Viewpoint as a key strategy for all children and young
people in care to have the opportunity to have their views heard and
participate in decisions that affect them.
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