The Victorian Government has confirmed some children in state care are being locked up in secure welfare facilities to protect them from sexual abuse.
An ABC investigation earlier this year found children as young as 12-years-old are being targeted by gangs of paedophiles and were enticed into trading sex for money, drugs and alcohol.
In a statement, Community Services Minister Mary Wooldridge says some children are being temporarily moved to secure welfare for their own protection.
But the Opposition’s Jenny Mikakos says that is no place for victims who are trying to recover from abuse.
“What’s happening here is the children are being locked up rather than the criminals,” she said.
“We need to ensure children are put in the safest possible location.”
Ms Mikakos is concerned about what happens after the children are released from the secure facilities.
“They’re then being put back into the same residential care unit where they were being preyed on by paedophiles in the first place,” she said.
[…]
Complete text and video linked here.
