Kathryn Bermingham: Despite a litany of failures, SA’s child protection system keeps operating in the same way

There have been too many cases of children at risk being missed by the very agencies put in place to keep them safe. Why does it keep happening, asks State Political Editor Kathryn Bermingham.

Fourteen years ago, former premier Jay Weatherill made frank admissions about the state of our child protection system.

As the then-families and communities minister, Mr Weatherill was under enormous pressure over a dreadful case of child neglect at Parafield Gardens that became known as the “House of Horrors”.

His Labor government was under siege over revelations five adults inside the house had starved and abused several children living there.

Authorities became aware of the situation when one child was taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital with a head injury and severe hypothermia.

In the aftermath, Mr Weatherill admitted all mandatory reports to child protection authorities were assessed but not all were investigated, and there was no point “pouring money into investigations because it was just a black hole and no children are safer”.

The year before, there had been more than 18,400 notifications to the Child Protection Department, of which just over 5800 were formally investigated. The rest were “referred to other services”.

Outlining his long-term plan to take the system in a radically different direction, Mr Weatherill said the government would direct resources into early intervention and support rather than investigation and the removal of children from dysfunctional families.

“If we investigated every one of those families we wouldn’t do anything to help them,” he said.

While Mr Weatherill should be commended for his honest assessment, the death last week of six-year-old Munno Para girl Charlie from malnutrition shows there has been no meaningful improvement since 2008. (Charlie’s mother has not been charged nor is anyone suggesting that she was abusive.)

Despite a litany of successive failures, South Australia’s broken child protection system has operated in the same predictable way. In a recurring pattern, these terrible failures lead to tragic and preventable deaths, the government announces a review, systemic problems are identified and the public is assured they will be fixed.

But they are not, and the devastating pattern repeats, again and again. A young child known to the department should not have been allowed to die in these circumstances.

But South Australians should have no reason for confidence that problems will be fixed following a review announced by Acting Premier Susan Close. Already, the government has shown it is more interested in protecting itself rather than transparently addressing problems with the system.

Charlie died in the early hours of last Friday, yet the public was not made aware until late Monday afternoon, when SA Police issued a media release announcing that a special task force had been assembled to investigate.

The first we heard from any member of the government was the following day – more than four days after Charlie’s death – when Dr Close and Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard fronted the media alongside SA Police deputy commissioner Linda Williams. Separate police and government investigations were well under way, which were repeatedly cited as the reason basic details of the case could not be released. The reviews themselves are not the problem. It’s appropriate that the government comprehensively look into what went wrong.

It is the lack of action that has followed past reviews – even when recommendations are clearly set out – that has left South Australians frustrated and sceptical. And when ministers use the many active investigations to shield themselves from answering simple questions, the public is right to feel annoyed.

Child protection boss Cathy Taylor was not present at the press conference and has made no public comment about Charlie’s death.

Following the House of Horrors case, which involved chronic school absenteeism, the former Labor government vowed to get tough on truancy, which experts agreed was a sign that a child was at risk of neglect.

Since then, little has been done in the area and just a handful of parents have ever been prosecuted for consistently failing to send their children to school. Questions about when Charlie last attended school, or whether she attended at all, went unanswered at Tuesday’s press conference.

But, based on the few facts we do have, the department should have had serious concerns for the welfare of Charlie. To start, the young girl witnessed her drug-fuelled father stab her mother multiple times in front of their northern suburbs home.

Despite the seriousness of the case, which was initially charged as attempted murder, and a history of domestic violence and drug use, she remained in harm’s way.

Dr Close noted at Tuesday’s press conference that child protection is “an incredibly challenging part of public policy”. That is indisputable.

But governments cannot keep approaching problems in the same way and expect a different result.

The “review into the multi-agency involvement with the family” will likely result in minor adjustments to the safety net designed to protect vulnerable children like Charlie.

But there is little likelihood that heads will roll, funding will increase and failed systems will be improved. And the curtain of secrecy will again descend on a shameful system.