News Article, April 2012
By Jemimah Clegg
Concerns the Victorian Government may scrap or significantly cut back the Enhanced Maternal and Child Health Services program have been raised by the Shadow Minister for Children and Young Adults Jenny Mikakos in Parliament last month.
Ms Mikakos asked the Minister for Children and Early Childhood Development Wendy Lovell during question time to guarantee a review of the program, ordered by the government and currently being conducted by consulting firm KPMG, would not lead to the program being cut.
The minister said she would not answer any questions about funding prior to the announcement of the state budget in May.
The program assists families from low socioeconomic backgrounds where children are exposed to potential danger and neglect by providing home visits from Maternal Child Health Nurses and case management in extreme circumstances.
Ms Mikakos says she is sceptical about the outcome of the current review due to the Baillieu Government’s track record on early childhood services. She said many early childhood programs lost funding last year, including the Take a Break Occasional Childcare program, which was cut after a review also conducted by KPMG.
“They are not supporting these critical services in early childhood like they should,” she said.
Additional funding for the Enhanced Maternal Child Health Services program was recommended in the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Report which was presented to the Minister for Community Services in January this year.
Professor Chris Goddard from Monash University is the director of Child Abuse Prevention Research Australia and co-wrote of one of the submissions to the inquiry.
Professor Goddard agreed there needed to be increased funding for the Enhanced Maternal and Child Health Services program, which he said helped in the early identification of vulnerable children.
“But funding should be directed towards better outcomes for children rather than just continuing to prop up families that sometimes should not be propped up,” he said.
Professor Goddard said although he agreed with providing better support to mothers and children, he felt the problems surrounding troubled families are simplified, and enhancing services is not always the right way to protect children.
“A lot of parents can be helped, but I think we need to identify earlier those that cannot be,” Professor Goddard said.
He said families who had serious problems such as drug abuse and domestic violence need to be identified and children in those families need to be removed as soon as possible.
Mercy Health O’Connell Family Centre is one of three centres in Victoria that provide support and education for new mothers.
Maternal and child health nurse Sue Rodwell from the centre said she and her colleagues frequently refer families to the Enhanced Maternal and Child Health Services program, but are often told the home visit nurse in the area is not available to attend in an appropriate amount of time.
“I believe there should be more funding to help at risk families to have this sort of support service available to them on an ongoing basis,” Mrs Rodwell said.
Ms Mikakos said the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry’s recommendations should be taken seriously by the government, and that increased funding for the Enhanced Maternal and Child Health Services program should be implemented.
“Let’s not wait until the damage has been done….we need to ensure that these programs are adequately funded,” she said.
Ms Lovell said in Parliament that the Baillieu Government values the Universal Maternal and Child Health Service, but did not mention if the enhanced service will be continued. “All decisions about financing for programs will be announced on budget day,” she said.
Jemimah Clegg 