Less kids in care, but more kids being abused

Lindsay Mitchell writes:

“There are less children in care now than as at 30 June 2019 when there were 6450 children and young people in care and protection custody and 140 in youth justice custody, a total of 6590 children in care. As at 30 June 2023 there were 4317 children and young people in care and protection custody and 162 in youth justice custody, a total of 4479 children in care.”

So the number of children in care or custody have dropped by a third since 2019.

This could be a good or a bad thing. It is like Labour’s policy to reduce the prison population by 30%.

If you achieve that because less violent crimes are occurring, that is good. If you achieve that because you are just not sending serious recidivist criminals to prison, and more violent crimes are occurring, it is a bad thing.

In this case, a good thing would be if fewer kids are in care, because fewer kids are being abused and assaulted.

There were (in 2019) 891 acts intended to cause injury perpetrated against 0-4 year-olds.

There were 1,296 acts intended to cause injury perpetrated against the same age group. That’s an increase of 45% (with no equivalent rise in the size of the demographic.)

So violent offending against under 5s has increased 45% but the number of kids in care has decreased by 33%. That is a huge concern.