In the wake of a major inquiry, Tasmanian child safety is reaching its tipping point for meaningful reform. In 2023, the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government's Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings tabled its final report, outlining devastating findings of abuse and trauma suffered by children in Tasmania, and making dozens of recommendations for change. 

However, the Commission of Inquiry is only one piece of a much larger puzzle, where wider issues of child safety, and the ability of the state to provide trauma-informed safety and practice, remain unresolved.

Victim/Survivors and Whistleblowers, many of whom gave evidence and were central to the inquiry's formation, are caught between the urgent hopes of meaningful reform, and the fears of familiar failures by government agencies to deliver on necessary change. Professionals that work directly with children in multiple settings have to find ways to bridge the gap between the abstract reform of service delivery, and the manifest reality of trauma-informed practice with children. 

Using Victim/Survivor and Whistleblower perspectives, this presentation explores the progress that has been made towards meaningful reform, the challenges that remain, and how those directly affected by the work of the Commission seek to deliver trauma-informed practice in Tasmanian children’s services and the wider spheres of state governance.