Child Protection Reform Minister John Rau says Families SA’s roles need clear defining following Chloe Valentine inquest findings

FAMILIES SA workers should either focus on supporting struggling parents or investigating and removing at-risk children – but they should not play both roles, Child Protection Reform Minister John Rau says.

FAMILIES SA workers should either focus on supporting struggling parents or investigating and removing at-risk children – but they should not play both roles, Child Protection Reform Minister John Rau says.

He is considering how to significantly change the way the child protection agency operates to make a clear distinction between the “dual roles” it currently performs.

This could involve assigning social workers to support families to improve parenting and create safer homes for children and either recruiting new investigators, or retraining social workers to focus on investigating families.

That second team would make decisions about removing children from their parents.

Chloe Valentine’s horrific death continues to haunt SA’s child protection agency Families SA.

The change could be made through policy but would more likely require new legislation.

Mr Rau’s comments follow criticism by State Coroner Mark Johns of Families SA staff involved in the case of four-year-old Chloe Valentine, who died in the care of her neglectful mother and her then partner in 2012.

Mr Johns said Chloe should have been removed from their care but Families SA focused too much on keeping the family together.

“Social workers cannot act in the best interests of a child and the child’s irresponsible parent simultaneously,” he said.

Mr Rau said workers needed “a completely different skill set” when supporting families, compared with making the decision to take a child away.

“My personal view is that there needs to be a complete and absolute structural separation,” he said.

Opposition spokeswoman Rachel Sanderson said she was “in favour” of investigating such a change.

AnglicareSA chief executive Peter Sandeman has told a parliamentary committee that the government’s primary role should be to decide when to remove children from their families and when to return them, while non-government agencies should play a greater role in supporting parents.

Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire wants investigation duties to be completely removed from Families SA and handed to a separate agency.

Also on Tuesday, Mr Rau said it was “inevitable” that there would have to be changes to the mandatory reporting system following revelations in The Advertiser that the Families SA call centre is failing to cope with the volume of abuse or neglect reports being made.