A performance audit of the whole-of-Government reform aimed at delivering improved outcomes for vulnerable children, young people and their families – ‘Their Futures Matter‘ (TFM) – has found the arrangements used to deliver the reform were ineffective.
TFM was the Government’s key response to the 2015 Independent Review of Out of Home Care in New South Wales (known as ‘the Tune Review’), authored by David Tune.
In her report, Their Futures Matter, Auditor-General Margaret Crawford says the audit assessed whether TFM had effective governance and partnership arrangements in place to enable an evidence-based early intervention investment approach for vulnerable children and families in NSW.
“Important foundations were put in place, and new programs trialled over the reform’s four years,” Ms Crawford said.
“However, an evidence-based whole-of-Government early intervention approach for vulnerable children and families in NSW − the key objective of the reform − was not established,” she said.
“The reform concluded in June 2020 without a strategy or plan in place to achieve its intent.”
Ms Crawford said the governance arrangements established for TFM didn’t provide sufficient independence, authority or cross-agency clout to deliver on the reform’s intent.
She said this had hindered delivery of the reform’s key elements, particularly the redirection of funding to evidence-based earlier intervention supports, and limited the impact that TFM could have had on driving system change.
“Despite being a whole-of-Government reform, TFM lacked mechanisms to secure cross-portfolio buy-in and lacked the powers to drive reprioritisation of government investment in evidence-based and earlier intervention supports across agencies,” the Auditor-General said.
“At the reform’s close, the majority of the reform’s investment pool funding remained tied to existing agency programs, with limited evidence of their comparative effectiveness or alignment with Their Futures Matter policy objectives”
Ms Crawford said despite the issues, the need, intent and vision for TFM were still relevant and urgent, as issues identified in the Tune Review remained pertinent.
The Auditor-General’s 55-page report on Their Future Matters can be accessed at this PS News link.
