THE Child Development Agency (CDA) is moving to return about 900 of the 3,000 children currently in state-run homes to the custody of their biological parents. The process, which began in August, should be completed by next January.

“We are going back through the 3,000 children in homes and going through the status of parents to see if we can reintegrate them. We are doing this as a matter of priority,” said Alison Anderson, the CDA’s CEO, at Sunday’s Women Inc conference.

“I think we can get 30 per cent back to their families,” she said.

Anderson intimated that some parents, faced with children that are hard to control, have chosen state care instead of dealing with the problem themselves.

“Some of the children are called uncontrollable but it is really not true; it is about the capacity to (understand them),” Anderson said.

The move to decrease the number of children in state-run homes follows July’s release of a damning government-commissioned review on children’s homes. The review spoke of run-down and dilapidated children’s homes and places of safety where sexual, physical and emotional abuse were common.

It also pointed to weak management, a lack of trained staff and inadequate supervision by relevant government agencies. Health Minister John Junor later estimated that it would require up to $800 million to fix the problems highlighted. Of that amount, he said, government had already earmarked nearly 70 per cent.

There were also calls for the strict passage of legislation to protect the nation’s children.

On Sunday, Anderson said the Child Care and Protection Bill is to be debated by a joint select committee in Parliament on November 3.

The Child Care and Protection Bill addresses issues including:

* fines up to $1 million for child abusers;

* creating a state body to oversee legal defence of children;

* making it an offence for citizens, especially doctors, teachers and priests not to report suspected or confirmed cases of child abuse to authorities;

* and the undocumented cases of child-trafficking.

Anderson said the passage of the Bill would be “ground-breaking” and it would be a step in the right direction to “overcoming some of the challenges faced by children”.

The Bill is a comprehensive compendium and modernisation of laws relevant to children, and replaces the more than 40 year-old Juveniles Act.