WA Parliament Question on Notice regarding the number of children in the care of the CEO of the Department of Communities who have been charged or convicted of criminal offences. The Department provided the number of children in care but declined to answer the remaining questions due to resource constraints.

AnsweredQoN 164Legislative Council
Asked
21 May 2025
Portfolio
Child Protection

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to the children in the care of the chief executive officer of the Department of Communities, and I ask: (a) how many children are currently in care; (b) how many of those children have been charged with a criminal offence; (c) further to (b), what is the highest number of charges made against a single child currently in care; (d) how many children in care have been convicted of a criminal offence; (e) further to (d), what is the highest number of convictions recorded against a single child currently in care; (f) how many children in care are currently serving a non-custodial sentence; and (g) how many children in care have participated in a court-based program prior to sentencing?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
17 June 2025
Responded by
Minister for Agriculture and Food representing the Minister for Child Protection
Response time
5 days
The Department of Communities advises:
(a)   As at 31 May 2025, there were 5,290 children in the care of the CEO.
(b – g) Information on whether children in the care of the CEO have been charged with a criminal offence is contained within individual case files. Attaining this information would require significant manual data extraction, which would divert resources from critical Departmental services.

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