Child Protection deputy Adam Reilly on ‘personal leave’ amid furore over assault figures

A key department figure has taken leave due to “confidential personal matters” less than 12 months into the job, amid calls for heads to roll over shock assault figures.

Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard has responded in the wake of shock sexual assault figures. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

The recently-appointed Department for Child Protection deputy chief executive has taken leave less than 12 months into the job, after new figures revealed shocking rates of sexual offences against children in state care.

On Thursday, it was revealed DCP Deputy Chief Executive Adam Reilly, who was appointed to the role under Chief Executive Jackie Bray in August last year, had taken a period of leave due to “confidential personal matters”.

Mr Reilly is the first Aboriginal person appointed to the role, working in youth justice and child protection in SA before working in the ACT, WA and the NT.

Prior to taking on the DCP role, he was executive director of the Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.

Ms Bray said an acting deputy chief executive had been appointed and she was supported by “a team of highly experienced executives”, with the safety of children and young people remaining her “highest priority”.

Mr Reilly’s personal absence comes after questions on notice, returned from DCP’s appearance before the Budget and Finance Committee in May, revealed 49 people had been charged with a sexual offence against a vulnerable child in the department’s care between March 2022 and May 2024, one of whom was a DCP staff member.

Two of the alleged rapes resulted in pregnancies, but further information on the incidents has not been disclosed.

Department for Child Protection deputy chief executive Adam Reilly has taken leave from the role. Picture: Brenton Edwards

There is no suggestion Mr Reilly’s leave is related to the questions on notice, nor is there any suggestion of any wrongdoing by him.

In the wake of the revelations, the opposition has intensified calls for Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard to stand down and for the role to be held as a stand-alone portfolio.

Ms Hildyard currently holds the portfolios of child protection, domestic, family and sexual violence prevention and recreation, sport and racing.

Opposition child protection spokesman Josh Teague said the “harrowing” figures were distressing and unacceptable.

“It is clear that South Australia’s Department for Child Protection is in crisis and it’s vulnerable children who are suffering as a result,” Mr Teague said.

“We must be doing everything we can to protect children in state care. It’s distressing and unacceptable that children are becoming victims to sexual predators when their level of protection should be higher because they are in care.”

Data also showed 26 serious incidents had been reported from January 1 to December 31 last year, with 22 related to self harm, two related to illness requiring surgery and two related to injury caused by harm to the child.

Thirty-four children known to the department had died in the 2022 and 2023 calendar years, compared to 58 between 2019 and 2022.

It has also been revealed six DCP staff had been dismissed for misconduct across the 2022 and 2023 calendar years, while a total of 31 staff had been managed by human resources between June 2022 and May 2024 for breaches of DCP’s policies.

But the minister lashed the opposition’s criticisms as “rank hypocrisy” and said she was regularly briefed on all significant incidents, including pregnancies.

She said she welcomed charges against any “awful predators” within the system.

“Vile pedophiles who prey on young people are utterly abhorrent and deserve to be severely punished,” she said.