Dozens of South Australian children still sleeping in emergency housing
More than 100 children are again sleeping each night in costly emergency housing despite pledges to slash the number.
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More than 100 children are again sleeping each night in costly emergency housing despite pledges by child protection authorities to slash the number to as few as 10.
Latest figures show that, as of May 31, 101 children were living in houses or apartments rented by the State Government, in the care of hired staff.
While the number had dipped as low as 74 over the past year it has returned to the same high levels of 12 months prior, when the figure was 102 at the end of May last year.
The lack of progress has prompted a frank concession from Child Protection Minister Rachel Sanderson, who had previously declared she expected to see a “huge difference” within a year of coming to office in March last year.
“Only upon coming into government … did I understand, for the first time, the true extent of the widespread, complex and serious issues faced by the child protection system,” she admitted in a statement to The Advertiser.
Ms Sanderson said it remained her “goal to reduce” the use of emergency housing, but Opposition child protection spokeswoman Jayne Stinson said she had “failed to deliver” on her promise.
“While that’s embarrassing for her it’s devastating for children in care,” Ms Stinson said.
Factors contributing to the persistently high numbers of children in this most expensive housing option include a shortage of foster carers or beds in more stable state-run homes and a growing number of children needing to be removed from unsafe parents.
When Child Protection Department boss Cathy Taylor took the helm in November, 2016, there were about 190 children in emergency housing.
Ms Taylor said she wanted to bring SA in line with Queensland, where she previously worked and the number was “anywhere between zero and 10”.
She had hoped to do so “within 18 months”, or by May 2018.
In April that year newly-elected Ms Sanderson conceded the target would not be met but said: “You would think within a year there should be a huge difference”.
But 12 months later the figure rose again to 101.
Guardian for children in state care Penny Wright said emergency housing was “far from desirable” but “in some cases it is preferable” to placing children in homes that are “dangerous” or “poorly matched” to their needs.
Ms Taylor said fluctuations in the number of children coming into state care meant “occasionally there is a need to purchase … (accommodation) as fee-for-service in emergency situations” and when there were “no other placement options available”.
She argued there had been “a significant reduction” from a peak of 212 children in July, 2016, and reiterated that children were no longer sent to hotels.
The Child Protection Party’s Nadia Bergineti feared some children ended up in emergency housing because of “poor commitment” by some workers “to find appropriate alternatives”.
She urged greater use of extended family, which would be better for children than “being removed and placed with strangers”.
Grandparents for Grandchildren CEO Peter Biber has also argued for more consideration of grandparents as potential carers to ease the burden on emergency housing.