Bath inquiry

Printed copies of the report and summary are available from Strategic Communications, NT Department of the Chief Minister, GPO Box 4396, Darwin 0801, phone 8999 6735. This Report is also available in PDF format from the Child Protection Inquiry website at www.childprotectioninquiry.nt.gov.au.As is often the case with inquiries into child protection systems, this Inquiry was commissioned in the wake of adverse publicity arising from a number of tragedies and public complaints about the inadequate responses of child protection services. In the course of the evidence gathering phase of the Inquiry, it became clear that there was no shortage of foster carers, government employees, non-government organisation workers, young people in care and other clients of the service wanting to report problems with different aspects of the services provided or the statutory agency, the Department of Health and Families (DHF), itself. The consistency and range of the submissions, along with an examination of operational data from the system, soon led the Board to the understanding that the child protection system in the Northern Territory is, indeed, in crisis