Petition Review Child Protection Permanent Care Orders

The petition of certain citizens of the State of Victoria draws to the attention of the Legislative Council that the child protection system in Victoria increasingly relies on Permanent Care Orders (PCOs) as long-term responses to family risk. While child safety and stability are essential, current legislation provides limited pathways for review, reunification, or restoration of family relationships even where parents demonstrate sustained change and children seek reconnection.

There is no publicly available government data on reunification outcomes, therapeutic support effectiveness, or long-term wellbeing for children under PCOs, preventing evidence-based policy evaluation. Evidence from parliamentary inquiries, lived experience, and human rights bodies shows permanent separation can cause lasting emotional, psychological, and cultural harm, including grief, identity confusion, and family disconnection.

Aboriginal children are disproportionately placed under PCOs, raising concerns about compliance with the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle and the Yoorrook Justice Commission findings. As children mature, many express desire for family contact, yet PCOs create legal barriers even when reconnection is safe. Current legislation lacks mandatory periodic review mechanisms, recognition of children's evolving capacity to seek family relationships, and accessible reunification pathways. This may be inconsistent with obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Victoria's Charter of Human Rights.

The petitioners therefore request that the Legislative Council calls on the Government to establish mandatory periodic review mechanisms for Permanent Care Orders (PCOs) when circumstances change,  require public reporting of reunification outcomes and wellbeing data for children under PCOs, implement proportionality assessments before imposing PCOs, protect Aboriginal children's cultural connection through mandatory family contact consideration, expand investment in family preservation, therapeutic reunification, and therapeutic drug courts, establish graduated reunification pathways when parents demonstrate safe parenting capacity, commission an independent review of PCO legislation against human rights obligations and outcomes data, reverse funding priorities toward prevention and family support, and provide therapeutic supports for children experiencing grief or desire for family connection.