This inquiry explores the experiences of these children and young people who become caught between different parts of the system in Victoria when concerns raised with Child Protection about their safety or wellbeing do not meet the threshold for legal (or statutory) intervention.

The report makes 17 findings and 13 recommendations with the intention of supporting meaningful intervention earlier in children and young people’s lives. The recommendations aim to improve the way statutory and voluntary parts of the system interact to better respond to risk in families; strengthen voluntary services’ ability to engage children, young people and their families; and seek greater investment in services to support more equitable, effective and sustainable service delivery to families. 

The recommendations also seek to enable a child and family system that gives children and young people the opportunity to discuss their views, and which responds to them as individuals with their own needs.

Key findings

• There is increasing demand on the child and family system. 
• Family services investment in 2024–25 only met a third of demand.
• The available data provides strong evidence that the child and family system is not consistently addressing the needs of children, young people and their families. 
• Children and young people’s voices are not sought or acted upon.
• Family violence services for children and young people remain a critical service gap.