In its twelfth Annual Report, the Committee has reported that the rate of child deaths has, on average, slowly decreased since 2005. However, higher rates of death are still occurring for children living in the State’s most disadvantaged areas and for Aboriginal children.
Several of the Committee’s in-depth reviews have focused on young parents whose infants have died and led to recommendations about:
- The importance of timely cross-border information-sharing.
- The need to support young people under guardianship through the provision of appropriate, trauma-informed services and the extension of guardianship arrangements beyond 18 years.
- The provision of ante-natal, birthing and parenting support services for young people.
The Committee has recommended the appointment of a strong and influential advocate for Aboriginal children and young people.
The Committee has provided the Minister for Education and Child Development with a list of the fundamental building blocks for services for children with disability that include respect for the centrality of the child, stable care, active case management, the presence of an advocate and end-of-life planning.
To enhance the safety of children, the Committee has recommended changes to the Plumbing Code that could help prevent serious scalding accidents and an infant safe sleeping campaign that provides information, support and access to portable infant safe sleeping devices.
The 2016-17 CDSIRC Annual Report is available for download.