Three out of four Victorian child protection department divisions have breached the privacy of children in its care for more than ten years, The Age reports. Should a breach subject discover their information was vulnerable, the agency would either pay the victim off or provide upgrade security tools for his or her home, the report states. “As a result of the disclosures there have been reports of children being threatened, carers being harassed at their homes and receiving menacing phone calls in the middle of the night,” the report adds. The Victorian privacy commissioner is investigating the breadth of the breaches and will release findings “within days.” In the meantime, insiders and Children's Court lawyers say a “system pushed to the breaking point” and “overworked social workers” caused the breaches.
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