$2m for new programs to help children recover from trauma of family violence

Thousands of children are caught in abusive households across South Australia. Now authorities are moving to better protect them.

Helping children recover from the trauma of family violence, and preventing their exposure in the first place, will be the focus of three new government-funded programs.

The death of nine-month-old Kobi Sheperdson last month shocked South Australians and prompted calls to better protect children caught up in family violence.

Today The Advertiser can reveal more than $2m will be allocated to help hundreds of children and adolescents who have experienced abuse and violence at home.

A new program called Safe and Well Kids will receive a $1.5 million share of federal funding made available to address a spike in domestic violence reports during coronavirus lockdowns last year. Social workers and children’s legal advocates will be among a multi-skilled team deployed to work with affected young people.

Another $500,000 in federal pandemic funding will be allocated to an Aboriginal-led organisation to develop and trial a children’s therapeutic service for indigenous youths.

The federal funding has been allocated to new programs being developed by the State Government.

Attorney-General Vickie Chapman has also flagged she wanted to use money from the Justice Rehabilitation Fund to trial an early intervention program.

It would provide one-on-one counselling and group sessions to young people aged 12 to 25 who are pregnant or parenting.

The program is unique in that it would work with youths who either experience, or perpetrate, family violence. Ms Chapman said she was “closely considering” the program “as a means to break the intergenerational cycles of violence”.

On Sunday The Advertiser revealed up to 23 children a week were being housed in emergency accommodation as families fled violent households. The Advertiser and Sunday Mail this week launched the “Not One More” campaign to lobby for changes to better protect potential victims of domestic violence.

Human Services Minister Michelle Lensink said most frontline services were “understandably focused on the needs of our at-risk women, however children and adolescents exposed to violence and abuse in the family home need our support too”.

Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Minister Carolyn Power said South Australians’ “collective hearts break when we learn of children being impacted by family violence and it is a priority that we take action”.

The Child Protection Department also is partnering with organisations to learn more about how to better help families where domestic violence is raised in child welfare reports.

Deputy chief executive Fiona Ward said these included collaborations with Flinders University, Women’s Safety Services SA and Aboriginal-led organisation Kornar Winmil Yunti.