Non-legal advocacy crucial in supporting parents with disability in child protection

Key points

• Report recommends multiple reforms to uphold the rights of parents with disability involved with Child Protection, including more support for advocacy services like IFAS.
• Parents with disability are more likely to have children removed from their care because of ableist and deficit-oriented attitudes within child protection systems.

‘They weren’t listening to me until my advocate came on board.’ – a parent quoted in Parents with Disability and their Experience of Child Protection Systems

Specialist advocacy services should be better funded so that the rights of parents with disability involved with Child Protection are upheld, a recent report shows.

The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability has commissioned an independent research report, led by the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and Western Sydney University into the experiences of parents with disability in child protection systems.

It found discriminatory attitudes towards parents with disability were rife in child protection systems across the country.

Parents with disability were more likely to have children removed from their care and Child Protection was less likely to work with these parents towards reunification, with lack of understanding and access to appropriate supports contributing to this.

It also found that child protection policy and practice often violates the human rights of people with disability, and that the discrimination experienced is compounded for First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse parents.

‘The report makes many sobering findings and sadly it reflects our experience supporting families in the Victorian child protection system,’ said Elicia Savvas, Associate Director, Child Protection.

‘Too often we see intellectual disability cited as the reason for child protection intervention.

'We see parenting assessments that take a deficit-approach and judge a parent’s ability to care for their child without disability or other appropriate supports, in place.’

Call to expand non-legal advocacy to better support families

The report recommended further development and ongoing funding for specialist non-legal advocacy services, like Independent Family Advocacy and Support (IFAS).

‘Having advocates working alongside families, particularly in the early stages of involvement with Child Protection, leads to positive outcomes and can resolve matters before court,’ said Robyn Buchanan, IFAS Manager.

‘Many parents who have been supported by IFAS say that having someone by their side has made the difference in their case and helped them be heard without judgment.’

IFAS is our non-legal advocacy service providing support to parents and primary carers in the early stages of involvement with the child protection system.

Advocates help parents and carers to identify and work towards the goals for their family and to understand both their rights and responsibilities.

IFAS prioritises people who face particular barriers navigating the child protection system, including parents with disability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and parents from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

An independent evaluation – also highlighted in the report – recommended IFAS be expanded across Victoria.

Since IFAS started in 2018, hundreds of parents have called for assistance who are not eligible because they live outside the current catchment areas.

The report concluded that services like IFAS are critical because they identify individual difficulties that can be addressed, adopting a rights and strengths-based framework, currently missing in the system itself.

More advocacy support would reduce the contact and severity of interventions that parents with disability experience with Child Protection, the report found.

It also called for statutory and policy reform, increased and ongoing professional development and education within the sector, and the need for inclusive service design and delivery.

More information

To make a referral to IFAS contact 1800 849 200.

Read about how IFAS helped a mother with an intellectual disability.

Read the report, including an Easy Read version.