Do We Care for Our Children? It's Time to Incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Abstract
Description
The care and protection of children in Australia has now become a topic of concern for all governments in Australia today. The past year has seen a frenzy of activity with the intervention of the Federal Government into the Northern Territory to provide care and protection to aboriginal children and the proposed extension of this intervention into aboriginal communities in Queensland, the current Wood Inquiry in New South Wales into the significant failures of the child protection system, the findings by the South Australian Mullighan Inquiry into the sexual abuse of children in state care and its implications for all other state and territory jurisdictions, the National Youth Commission's Report into the horrendous level of Youth Homelessness, and numerous other instances of serious concern regarding the inadequate standards of care and protection being provided to children and young people throughout Australia. What has become very clear is that Australia does not have a coherent national child protection policy and law to address many of these very serious issues. This absence of policy stems largely from Australia's failure to incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into law.
item.page.type
Text
item.page.format
Keywords
Australia, International Resources, Legislation, legal