Dozens of vulnerable children were deemed not at risk by Victoria’s child protection system. They are now dead

In 2025, 75% of all reports received by child protection were about children who had been reported before. Photograph: Alex Linch/Alamy View image in fullscreen In 2025, 75% of all reports received by child protection were about children who had been reported before. Photograph: Alex Linch/Alamy Dozens of vulnerable children were deemed not at risk by Victoria’s child protection system. They are now dead The state’s commissioner for children and young people raised the alarm about cycles of ineffective referrals to voluntary services and closed reports in 35 cases of children who died after interactions with the system Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Victoria’s most at-risk children are falling through the cracks of a child protection system straining under increased demand and funding shortfalls, new reports show, as advocates warn of “stunning” gaps in data and lack of carer support. The state’s commissioner for children and young people has also raised the alarm about cycles of ineffective referrals to voluntary services, and closed reports in 35 cases of children who died after interactions with the system. “The commission has continued to see report after report to child protection with ultimately no improvement in the lives of children and young people. That needs to change,” the commissioner, Tracy Beaton said. The commission’s report, tabled in parliament on Thursday, comes a day after the state’s auditor general released a report showing the out-of-home care system was not fully meeting children’s needs. The reports come less than a week after Guardian Australia’s reporting on the inside of the kinship care system , through the story of a Melbourne childcare worker who took on the care of a baby she barely knew last year after a Friday afternoon phone call from child protection. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email The auditor general found the work of child protection services has long been stymied by delayed, inaccurate and incomplete data. The problems directly hampered child protection workers’ ability to “make informed decisions, monitor placements and deliver effective child protection services,” the auditor general wrote. Despite multiple previous reports identifying such systemic issues, the department’s appeals to the government for funding to address them had been unsuccessful. The number of foster carers was also declining significantly, and putting increased pressure on the kinship care system – where a child is placed in care with a relative or close family friend – which now makes up 81.7% of placements. Carer payments in Victoria are also the lowest in Australia, and a key factor in declining carer numbers, the report said. A childcare worker was asked to take baby Lily home for the weekend after a court protection order last year. She’s still there Read more Kinship Carers Victoria director, Anne McLeish, said carers had long been