Vulnerable teenagers placed in residential care under Victoria’s child protection service were subjected to violence in 2019-2020, with more than 700 suffering serious physical and sexual abuse, a report has found. The annual report by Victoria’s Commission for Children and Young Persons (pdf) also found that of the 7300 incidents reported for that year, eighteen children died in residential care. At the same time, more than 2000 teenagers ran away from residential units. The report comes in the wake of concerning data that reveal 65 Victorian children and teenagers—who were known to child protection authorities—died in 2019-2020, reported The Australian. “Incidents in residential care accounted for approximately three-quarters of the year’s total … incidents, even though this group of children make up approximately 5 percent of the out-of-home-care population,” the commission report states. Additionally, significant flaws were found in the children protection service, such as premature closure of cases by …