Victorian schools turned away children living in high-risk homes during the height of coronavirus lockdowns, while other students suffered potentially catastrophic disruptions to their education because of a failure to provide them with adequate technology, according to the state's child-safety watchdog.
Key points:
- The concerns follow a reduction in child protection visits due to coronavirus restrictions
- Children in residential care were also fined for breaching social distancing laws
- Victoria is deciding whether to return to remote learning for some students
Commissioner for Children and Young People, Liana Buchanan, confirmed that serious concerns had been raised with her office about access to education for some of the state's most vulnerable students, calling into question repeated assurances from the State Government that no children would be disadvantaged by remote learning.
In some cases, students known to Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) child protection workers, because their parents had histories of neglecting them or abusing drugs, were not permitted to attend school.
Some children with disabilities and Indigenous children at risk of disengaging from school were also turned away.
"We've had accounts during this period of children in care being turned away by their school, of children who are involved with the family violence service not being allowed to attend school, children with a disability who just can't get the level of support and learning support they need at home, not able to attend on site."
The concerns raised by the commissioner come as Victoria grapples with a decision about whether to return to remote learning for some students when term three resumes on Monday week.
While she would not comment on individual cases or schools, Ms Buchanan said remote learning also created another significant issue within the child protection system — teachers were no longer able to pick up signs of injury or abuse on students which could then be reported to authorities.
This was compounded by a reduction in visits to the homes of children from child protection workers, due to coronavirus restrictions.
It was too early to say whether some of those children had suffered harm while they were isolated from school and child protection.
"My worry is that we're going to see more of that in coming weeks and months, because some of these things take a while for children to disclose," she said.
Children who required laptops and internet access only received it, in some cases, when they returned back to school, Ms Buchanan said.
In a statement, a Department of Education spokeswoman said that schools had worked hard to meet the needs of vulnerable children during remote learning.
"Any move to remote learning in government schools in term three will be based on the health advice," she said.
"In the event this occurs, every student will get the support they need, especially children and young people facing disadvantage."
Children fined for social distancing breaches
The commission has also been told children in residential care, including Indigenous children, received fines of more than $1,600 for breaching social distancing laws during the previous lockdown.
Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People Justin Mohamed said those fined included children as young as 12.
"They're the responsibility of the state, and the state are then fining them," he said.
He said it would have been better if police had used the opportunity to educate young people about the importance of social distancing, rather than giving them a fine they would never be able to pay.
Mr Mohamed said cases of Indigenous youth being fined came as the global Black Lives Matter movement left many of them reflecting on their relationship with police.
"In many cases you wouldn't see a police officer in a positive view if you were an Aboriginal young person, especially in out-of-home care," he said.
"Sometimes, there's a lot of contact with police, through no fault of their own, but it could have been the police who removed them … when they were in harm's way.
"As a young person, you still see … that's the side of society that took me away from my parents."
Mr Mohamed said another key issue for Indigenous young people in state care or youth detention was being prevented from seeing their parents and relatives during lockdown, as these visits were considered vital to maintaining their identity.
Survey gauges pandemic's impact on young Victorians
Since late March, the Commission for Children and Young People has spoken to more than 200 young people in group sessions, about 70 in one-on-one sessions, and about 450 more have completed a survey.
The pandemic forced the commission to move quickly to hear from young people who would no longer have the same level of support as before lockdown.
There are a lot of children living in less than ideal situations, either because … they're living with a degree of neglect or violence at home, or because they've got mental health issues or other support needs," Ms Buchanan said.
"So the prospect of COVID … was really alarming to us.
"We decided the only way that we could really track what was happening for children and young people, as well as getting the data and working with departments like we normally do, was to speak to children and young people."
Highlands Youth Advisory Board member Zach Eaton said he had passed on to the commission the fears of his friends; that the economic downturn created by the response to the pandemic would disproportionately affect them.
But she said more must be done if Victoria again moved to shift students online.
"I need to be fair: no one predicted this pandemic," she said.
"No-one predicted that schools would suddenly have to move to online learning.
"My hope is that … if we need to move to home learning again that there's much stronger guidance from the department to really make sure that schools are encouraged and indeed required to do what they need to for these vulnerable kids."
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