Calls to replace SA’s child protection boss after damning reports
The Premier is resisting calls to sack SA’s child protection boss after it was revealed hundreds of kids were living in “high-risk” situations.
SA News
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Hundreds of South Australian children are living in “high-risk” situations, a top-level report has revealed, but Premier Peter Malinauskas is resisting calls to sack the head of the Child Protection Department.
The findings of a review by former police commissioner Mal Hyde have prompted an urgent operation overseen by SA Police to check on the welfare of about 500 young children “as soon as possible”.
The revelation has sparked calls to replace department chief executive officer Cathy Taylor, who has been in the job for six years.
“She’s got to go. Why have they kept her in that position?” said Janet Wells, whose grandchildren were killed in 2016 after multiple reports about their welfare were made to the department.
“She didn’t have that position when Amber and Korey died but she’s had the opportunity to do better for other kids.
“She’s had five years and nothing has changed. It’s not just one or two things.
“It’s the same failings all the time. It’s not fair on any of the kids.”
Ms Taylor – who is paid about $383,000 a year – did not attend a press conference on Mr Hyde’s review, which was sparked by the deaths of Charlie Nowland, 6, and Makai Wanganeen, 7, earlier this year. Both children were known to the department. She did not respond directly to questions from The Advertiser about why she should remain in her role, but said planning was “underway” to implement reform recommendations.
Asked if Ms Taylor should keep her job, Mr Malinauskas said: “I’ve got high expectations of my senior executive team, Ms Taylor included. I will continue to monitor performance of our chief executives very closely.”
Mr Hyde’s recommendations included:
LAUNCHING a new taskforce on child neglect.
TRAINING to ensure child protection workers understood “the risk of harm through neglect and squalor”.
ALLOCATING funding to child protection offices in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.
UPDATING the law to make it easier to prosecute parents accused of criminally neglecting their children.
Mr Hyde also called for the “culture” of the Child Protection Department to be “thoroughly examined and action taken where necessary to ensure a constructive and supportive culture is established”.
However, he did not say if that action should include replacing Ms Taylor and did not make any findings against her personally.
Mr Malinauskas said the department culture was “something that will be assessed very carefully”.
He also stressed it was “important to contemplate” the findings of a second report released yesterday, which examined responses to past inquiries into the state’s child protection system. That review, by NSW expert Kate Alexander, is very supportive of the department’s current leadership team.
Ms Alexander writes that its “leaders work hard to buffer their ranks and maintain momentum but the system has not had time to catch its breath”.
Ms Taylor is quoted in Ms Alexander’s report as saying: “We are not a department of blame – we are a department of accountability. At the end of the day, I’m the most accountable person in the department as chief executive”.
Mr Hyde, who was SA police commissioner between 1997 and 2012, took over an initial review by the chief executive of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, which was established in the wake of the deaths of Charlie and Makai.
Charlie was taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital by paramedics on July 15, 2022, after she was found unresponsive at her Munno Para home.
Craigmore boy Makai died on February 10, 2022, after being taken to Lyell McEwin Hospital and later the Women’s and Children’s Hospital suffering from an unknown complaint.
SA Police launched Task Force Prime to investigate the two deaths but no charges have been laid.
A list of Mr Hyde’s recommendations was released yesterday but the rest of his report was withheld, despite a pledge to make it public, because it could affect ongoing police investigations.
Mr Hyde said he did not speak to the families of Charlie and Makai as part of his inquiry. He did reveal that only about 20 per cent of reports of suspected child abuse or neglect which child protection workers deem worthy of investigation are actually acted on. About 30 per cent of cases are closed without action and half are referred to other agencies or services.
The Advertiser has launched the Save Our Kids campaign to lobby for changes to better protect at-risk children.
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