Child protection review urges trust in workers, hits out at media

A child protection review sparked by a scathing inquest has urged “trust” in workers, while rebuking the media.

A review of South Australia’s child protection system sparked by a scathing coronial inquest has urged more “respect” and “trust” in a workforce under pressure – and rebuked media reporting of the system’s failings.

NSW child protection bureaucrat Kate Alexander’s 143-page report has been described by the family of children who died after reports about their welfare were made to authorities as “a glorification” of the Child Protection Department.

The Opposition has also described the report’s findings as “glowing” and “jarringly at odds” with other reviews.

Ms Alexander was commissioned to conduct the review following the April release of a coronial inquest into the deaths of siblings Amber Rigney, 6, and Korey Mitchell, 5.

Repeated concerns about their safety were raised with the Department before their murders in 2016. Korey Lee Mitchell and his sister Amber Rose Rigney were known to be at risk of abuse but the state coroner has found Families SA did not act to keep them safe.

Korey Lee Mitchell and his sister Amber Rose Rigney.

Deputy Coroner Anthony Schapel found the department had continued to ignore its mandatory obligations, despite specific recommendations in earlier inquests about children who had died. Ms Alexander was tasked with reviewing all recommendations about the system since 2010 and their implementation, and whether the department’s practices “align” with its obligations under child protection laws.

Ms Alexander, who is an executive director of the Office of the Senior Practitioner in the NSW Family and Community Services Department, found there had been 811 recommendations made, 78 per cent had been completed and there were “true indicators of improvement”.

Her report is supportive of the department’s leaders, saying it was “notable just how frequently” people interviewed “raised their respect for the leadership of DCP”.

Ms Alexander makes recommendations of her own, including to “quickly” form a Child Protection Expert Group led by the department, “signalling trust in its child protection expertise”, and to “rely on” senior executives in the department who are “already working on a reform agenda”.

She declares that “what mattered most was that this review heard from the people doing the work by someone who understands the complexities of it” and explains that she took an Appreciative Inquiry approach which “focuses on what is working well”.

“The problems people experience always come to light … but can be approached and viewed differently when considered alongside strengths,” she writes.

Ms Alexander says “from the outset” her review was “determined to be hopeful” and is the first to be “led by child protection experience and expertise” and “centred on the voices of the workforce”.

She noted morale was negatively affected by media reporting of child deaths and staff “described a weariness in having to defend their work”.

Amber and Korey’s grandfather Steven Egberts. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

In her summary Ms Alexander, who has a Masters and 25-plus years experience, says her review “is written with deep respect for the work of child protection in South Australia and trust in its culture”.

The grandparents of Amber and Korey – who chose not to speak with Ms Alexander for the review – say they were surprised by the findings.

“It’s almost like a paid advertisement,” said grandfather Steve Egberts. “It’s just basically a glorification of the department.

“The whole reason we’re at this point is because of the mistrust that the (Deputy) Coroner had that they (DCP) weren’t upholding their statutory obligations.”

Grandmother Janet Wells felt the report was “worker focused” and “the focus was taken off the children”.

Opposition child protection spokesman Josh Teague said Ms Alexander’s “glowing review appears jarringly at odds with (former Police Commissioner) Mal Hyde’s emergency recommendations” delivered on the same day. Mr Hyde found 500 SA children were living in “high risk” situations and called for a further review of the department’s culture.