Twenty children known to child protection authorities have died in the past year, including six within three months, sparking renewed calls to fix Victoria's "overstretched" system.
Most were aged under two, however details including their specific ages and circumstances surrounding their deaths have not been made public.
Data from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing shows six children died between July 1 and September 30.
Those figures don't include deaths by suicide.
They do include deaths reported by family service providers, as well as children with known medical conditions, or those born prematurely.
It brings to 20 the total number of children connected to child protection who died in the year to the end of September.
A total of 191 children have died since the beginning of the 2016/17 financial year, which is an average of just under six children every three months or one death per fortnight.
Opposition child protection spokeswoman Roma Britnell said children were suffering further trauma in a system that failed them and called on Children Minister Lizzie Blandthorn to resign unless the situation was fixed.
"They're our most vulnerable and we need to see a government take responsibility," Ms Britnell told reporters on Tuesday.
"If the minister can't fix this very broken, very overstretched system where case workers are not getting allocated children because the system is so overstretched, then the minister should resign."
The latest quarterly data revealed there were 286 instances of abuse from July 1 to September 30, which includes allegations of physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and financial abuse.
A further 224 reports were classified as 'other incident types' which includes self-harm or suicide attempts, injury, poor care or an absent child, while there were another 70 reports of dangerous or disruptive behaviour.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan described the death of any child as a tragedy and said $4 billion had been invested to build the sector over the past five years, with more child protection workers employed than ever before.
"(There is) absolutely more work to be done, because any death of any child is a tragedy, but particularly those who are the most vulnerable kids," Ms Allan said.
The premier stood by Ms Blandthorn and pointed to "landmark legislation" that came into effect earlier in the year allowing Aboriginal services to provide care and take responsibility for Indigenous children.
The child protection system came into sharp focus at the The Yoorrook Justice Commission, which made 46 recommendations in an interim report 12 months ago.
Commission chair Eleanor Bourke said earlier in October she was "beyond disappointed by the lack of action" from government, hitting out at what she described as not nearly enough progress.
In 2022, the Victorian Auditor-General's Office criticised the quality of the department's child protection data, while highlighting workers were regularly exposed to stressors including critical incidents such as the death or injury of a child.
CHILD PROTECTION DEATHS VICTORIA
* First three months of 2024/25 - 6
* 2023/24 - 17
* 2022/23 - 9
* 2021/22 - 11
* 2020/21 - 19
*2019/20 - 24
* 2018/19 - 24
* 2017/18 - 32
* 2016/17 - 49
Lifeline 13 11 14
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
13YARN 13 92 76
