Crucial improvements to South Australia’s child protection system set to become law

CRUCIAL improvements to the state’s troubled child protection system have cleared a major hurdle in Parliament and are set to become law.

CRUCIAL improvements to the state’s troubled child protection system have cleared a major hurdle in Parliament and are set to become law.

After a late-night sitting of Parliament, MPs voted around 2am on Thursday to approve long-awaited legislation acting on a raft of recommendations made by Royal Commissioner Margaret Nyland to better protect at-risk children.

Child Protection Reform Minister John Rau said the laws would make “huge” improvements to a system which was found by Ms Nyland’s inquiry to be “in crisis” and in need of a complete overhaul.

“It’s a completely different system and so much better,” Mr Rau told The Advertiser.

“The changes, just in the ability of kids to have a stable (foster care) placement, are so much of an improvement on where we are now.

“It will better support foster carers and make foster care a more attractive option for many people who may be thinking about it but might not be prepared to do it now.”

The new laws will:

STRENGTHEN drug testing of at-risk parents.

EXPLICITLY outlaw genital mutilation of children.

ENABLE better information-sharing to ensure children do not slip through gaps between government agencies.

GIVE more information to foster carers about the backgrounds of troubled children coming into their home, so they are better prepared to care for them.

ALLOW foster carers to seek an external review when a child is removed from their care.

SET clearer timelines about when children are removed from unsafe parents and placed permanently with foster carers, to give them more stability.

MAKE safety the most important factor when considering who should care for a child.

The Opposition had opposed elements of the Bill and this had held up debate in the Parliament for some months.

It also moved an eleventh hour bid late last night to try to knock the Bill out entirely, but did not have the numbers to vote it down.

Heinous child sex abuser Shannon McCoole.

Mr Rau said the Liberals had risked important reforms because they didn’t “get their way”.

The Opposition wanted to prioritise the “best interests” of a child, whereas the Government’s legislation made safety the key consideration.

The Bill also shifted many responsibilities for at-risk children and those in state care to the chief executive of the Child Protection Department, as is the case interstate.

The Opposition said those responsibilities should remain with the Minister.

Its positions on these points were supported by an alliance of welfare organisations and lawyers which urged the Government to scrap the laws and start again.

Education and Child Development Minister Susan Close said the new laws gave a “stronger voice for children and young people so they can be involved in the decisions that are being made around their lives”.

“For staff, the new Bill enables greater ability to act proactively to protect children and young people at risk of further harm.

“It respects the professional judgment of those who know the children, young people, families and carers, so those decisions are best informed and have the greatest opportunity to result in positive outcomes”.

Ms Nyland delivered her report to Government in August.

She made 260 recommendations for change.

Her inquiry was prompted by the arrest, and later conviction, of former government carer Shannon McCoole on heinous child sex charges.