The ABC has come under fire after presenting a story on the removal of children in distressed families as an interactive quiz.
The article, titled ‘Would you remove these children from their families?’, takes readers through the case studies of six children, two of them siblings.
Readers are given some background information and asked ‘Would you take [CHILD] from [PARENT]’s care?’. They are given the options Yes or No, and responding provides information on how experts acted.
The game-like nature of the story drew the ire of Family and Community Services Minister Pru Goward, who told The Daily Telegraph: ‘Vulnerable children are not clickbait.’
An interactive article on child protection printed on the ABC website has been slammed as ‘clickbait’ allows readers to decide if they would choose to remove children from distressed families
A former ABC journalist herself, Ms Goward said she was left ‘disappointed’ by the story.
‘Serious issues like child protection should not be subjected to a yes-or-no vote from readers,’ she said.
Ms Goward was not the only one who took issue with the article. The Benevolent Society, who the article credits for its first case study, told the Daily Telegraph they had no idea where the story of Jakob had come from.
Matt Gardiner, an executive director at the organisation, said the article ‘was not done with the co-operation of the Benevolent Society’.
Mr Gardiner claimed the article had ‘trivialised a complex issue’ and said much more information than was provided in the article would be necessary to make such a decision in real life.
Some parents in the article were battling substance abuse problems, others had shacked up with new partners who had previous child-related convictions.
In one case, a 12-year-old child had become the primary carer for his unwell mother, and in another, the child had been severely neglected.
While most of these children were removed from their homes by experts, some of them stayed.
Readers are given case studies taken from The Benevolent Society, as well as parliamentary submissions from Queensland’s Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services and the 2016 South Australian Child Protection Systems Royal Commission
They are then asked a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question as to whether they would choose to remove the child from its family (pictured)
Federal Communications Minister Mitch Fifield was also left unimpressed by the article, noting it had simplified the depth of issues involved with the removal of a child.
He said the simplistic content teamed with the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers provided for readers were ‘neither appropriate nor worthy of the ABC’.
Family and Community Services Minister Pru Goward, slammed the article and said: ‘Vulnerable children are not clickbait’.
The ABC article drew on a case study which linked back to the Benevolent Society’s practice resources, as well as the 2016 South Australian Child Protection Systems Royal Commission.
It also linked back to a 2012 submission from the Queensland Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services to the Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry.
A spokeswoman for the ABC told the Telegraph the interactive elements of the story allow the reader to be immersed in the situation in an ‘innovative, thoughtful way’.
She claimed the case studies had been anonymised and the article included a range of contexts and detailed information from multiple experts.
The ABC said the story was not ‘clickbait’, and claimed a journalist from the ABC had spoken with an authorised representative of the Benevolent Society.
At the end of the article, it notes: ‘Social workers often have a lot more information on the child and their family than is presented here’, but goes on to say there are times where information expressed to professionals can be limited or incorrect.
The article also clarifies the decision to remove a child is made by a wide range of people, including the children’s court.
Daily Mail Australia contacted the ABC for further comment.