Office of the Public AdvocateThe Office of the Public Advocate is celebrating an historic moment for Victoria with the passing of the Children, Youth and Family (Stability) Bill 2025 and the Children, Youth and Family (Supporting Stable and Strong Families) Bill 2025.
For the past decade, OPA has advocated strongly for the rights and needs of parents with disability and mental illness—parents who are 10 times more likely than others to have their children removed. The Stability amendments reflect this long-term advocacy and reinforce the need for effective support systems that keep families together whenever possible.
Statements from OPA’s 2015 report Rebuilding the village: Supporting families where a parent has a disability - Office of the Public Advocate remain just as relevant today:
“If assumptions are made about the impact of disability on parenting capacity and there is a lack of effective support and assistance provided to parents with disabilities, the inevitable result is the unnecessary removal of children from parents with a disability with serious consequences for the best interests and human rights of children, parents and society as a whole.”
Victoria’s Public AdvocateDan Stubbs says “This legislation acknowledges that different family units have their own journey and pace of reunification, and that for successful reunification to occur, parents with disability or mental illness may need more or different forms of assistance with less rigid time frames.”
The Supporting Stable and Strong Families amendment sets the expectations for supporting care leavers until the age of 25 and OPA applauds this change. With growing numbers of young people under adult guardianship of the Public Advocate, promoting equality of opportunity and a multi-agency approach has potential to divert some from the path of adult guardianship towards less restrictive forms of support for decision-making and personal autonomy.
Congratulations to Minister Lizzie Blandthorn for her leadership, vision, and unwavering commitment to reforms that put the wellbeing of children and families at the centre. These reforms place Victoria at the forefront nationally by strengthening social care and supporting the development of children in our community.
