Trust and transparency of the child and youth protection system is at a catastrophic low and the latest report has a long way to go before things are fixed, a vice-president of the adoptive and foster care association said.
Bernadette Blenkiron counts herself lucky, as she adopted her two children with relative ease in 2016 under the ACT government, but since working as a vice president of the adoptive and foster care association, other families are experiencing "massive issues in trust".
The ACT government launched a new eight-year families and children's strategy on Friday to address issues facing those in the out-of-home care system.
A part of the strategy indicates work needs to be done on "trust and transparency" as "there continues to be a power imbalance between people who work in the child and youth protection system and those who become engaged with it".
"This new strategy does not focus on permanency or better outcomes for those children who should be adopted and not linger as system kids," Ms Blenkiron said.
Adoptions are rare in the ACT and foster care is the alternative method for a lot of families which Ms Blenkiron says creates instability.
"It's reached absolute extremes and carers have moved to a new level of scared and if things don't improve, they are not going to be able to survive and find foster carers. Carers are feeling under such pressure," she said.
"Children are being taken away from their families on cultural issues and it shouldn't be treated so black and white."
A foster family that lost access to a child they raised is currently being supported by Ms Blenkiron. They wish to remain anonymous as they fear speaking out would reduce their chance of re-fostering the child taken away from them.
The family had the child from birth and was taken at approximately three years of age, a "key attachment period in child development" and the family is "being prevented from seeing him for absolutely no good".
"This is actually a process without any kind of analytical thinking applied and this is about our children that are vulnerable," the foster parent said.
"There is absolutely no external oversight, even our most confidential intelligence agencies have oversight, while CYPS in Canberra has none."
A recent study conducted by director of child protection studies from Australian Catholic University Daryl Higgins and Southern Cross University senior lecturer in social work Erica Russ found the workforce for the preventative and supportive services in the child protection system is poorly defined and resourced.
Professor Higgins said investment priorities must shift with funding towards preventative services such as teachers, instead of the part of the system that deals with removals.
"We must respond to people's needs early and decrease the pressure on child protection systems," he said.
Dr Russ said it is important training in child welfare is directed to professionals as this would improve the strain on foster case systems.
"There's not enough training going on so we're not actually keeping pace with demand to skill and equip those workers, let alone having workers who are well equipped to then help support people like teachers and nurses understand the specifics of child welfare," she said.
The ACT government said they developed a series of guides to "support families who may come into contact with the child protection system".
"These guides have been developed specifically for parents and families that become involved with Child and Youth Protection Services," a spokesperson said.
