As a young child I was taken from my family made a ward of the state.
Being sent to the salvation army boys home in Bayswater Victoria.
While in the care of the Salvation Army, like many other boys in their care, was continually forced to suffer mental, physical and sexual abuse by salvation army staff carers. I am now 60 years of age and still suffer the traumatic memories of my child hood approximately 50 years ago. Major Francis appeared to get pleasure out of inflicting pain and punishment on the children in his care. Envoy Collins, a pedophile was allowed to satisfy his sexual desires raping any boy he fancied.
Adult prisons are full of prisoners who were once children state wards in institutions.
Gypsy

Where the government or agents on its behalf are supplying services or making other payments there should be regular, random and independent audit. Such audit should never be performed solely by professionals similar to those supplying the service (because they make allowances they shouldn't make). Review should always be by a team of auditors.

The remaining problem is that the need for the audit and its brief should not be subject to final approval or sign off by the CEO of the department, agency or private contractor supplying the service. That does nor prevent the govt agency or NGO performing its own audits which they should be doing however it does make it harder for managers and contractors to ensure a report whitewashes problems as 'minor human errors' when major systemic problems exist.

Few reports gathered by government are impartial and informed but I do have respect for the work of the federal Australian National Audit Office (ANAO). Its reports are made public and are followed up.

It was an ANAO report that found that the aged were not being poorly treated in nursing homes. Of course it is up to us the voters to demand independent audits and to insist on action by government.

So there are three answers:

1. Regular independent audit of all areas of government operation (the schedule of audits and the briefs should be ADVERTISED IN ADVANCE FOR PUBLIC SCRUTINY. That is easy to do because they plan well in advance. In addition, there must be review of the existence and operation of audit committees;

2. Voters having the wit and guts to vote with their feet; and

3. Acceptance by us all that 'someone' isn't going to fix every problem and sometimes we have to act on our own initiative, even if that means visiting the police station to ensure that a formal complaint is recorded.

Hey Belly, see we have the foster parents… probably more now with the GFC.

We have a ton of caseworkers between the government departments and the non-government ones. Justice Wood did not have to scatter the children through multiple agencies, sibling groups also get separated between them.

DoCS need to be the only ones “in charge”.

Give the NGO’s the early intervention and working with families in need.

Get the NGO’s right away from the foster kids.

The foster parents should all move back to be monitored by DoCS, the department responsible for the children’s removal should step up and be their guardians and not be outsourcing this role and then turning their backs on them.

The NGO foster parents; if doing it for the children shouldn’t mind the slash of up to 50% of their income from these kids.

The NGO caseworkers who want to work with foster kids can suck up their pay cuts and the loss of their company cars and all the other bonuses funded by DoCS and get their butts over to DoCS.

Right now we have children who are commodities; they are contracts and projected incomes. For Justice Wood to recommend this culture of private companies expanding and to assume they will take the load of off poor overworked DoCS is laughable if you can ignore how horrific the reality is.

DoCS all along needed to be overhauled and then expanded. No way should they be pushed in to a role of taking children and then passing them on to whoever has submitted a tender.

What Gypsy is saying, and we’ve heard from Huffnpuff – this is your “not for profit” and “charities”.

In July 2009 I attended a Reunion and Book Launch ( Salvation ) compiled and written by Rod Braydon, a former ward of the state in the 1950's. Rod was in both Salvation Army Boys Homes in Box Hill & Bayswater Victoria. Attending the book launch allowed releasing the traumatic memories of my childhood and talk to other people who knew and understood the emotional,physical and sexual abuse we suffered at the hands of the elected carers. Both the Federal & State Governments as well as the opposition Governments parties have indicated they will make a public apology to all former Wards of the State who were raised in institutions. At long last the political parties and the people finally know and believe atrocities took place in State & Religious run institutions. One group, Care Leavers Australia Network ( CLAN )has been pushing for this for many years.
Gypsy

Gypsy
I feel your pain as a 61/2 year old I was removed from my mum my Attachment & Bonding figure.
My dad fought for me as a White man for a White child(part Koorie on mums side)& rared with a step family that hated my guts.
I am 55 & still to this day I recall my fathers words in front of that bloody Court House "I will fight for him Peg I will fight for him at least you will get to see him" those words rang through my mind as they took me to my mum the last night that I would spend with her.
As my father fought for me as a white child I was made denounce my Koorie side for fear of them taking me then from my dad this only gave my step-mother more ammunition to hold against my father & push her children more onto my dad.
Then Bloody DoCs take my child & put him through the very pain(12years now) that I & so many out there suffered.
Anyway starting to hurt a little to much at the moment
I bid you all a good life from Dave

Cornflower the NSW Children’s Guardian performs in this way for the NGO’s and also the Ombudsman for the government department. This is about processes and policies.

The Ombusdman – a buffer to shut the public up, kill time.

NSW Children’s Guardian – an NGO who will not help any individual child. They deal with policy.

You wont pick up in paperwork how the children are cared for. This has to be something invasive and frequent in the lives of foster parents. Unplanned.

Invasive, I should add, does not necessarily mean unpleasant.

Both the children and the foster parents need to be heard.

Do you have a different meaning of "audit" than I have?