Families SA wasted chance to catch paedophile carer Shannon McCoole, Royal Commission told

FAMILIES SA “squandered” its best opportunity to properly investigate paedophile carer Shannon McCoole and discover the risk he posed to children, a royal commission has heard.

FAMILIES SA “squandered” its best opportunity to properly investigate paedophile carer Shannon McCoole and discover the risk he posed to children, a royal commission has heard.

McCoole was never placed under performance management, put on probation or required to undergo retraining despite being investigated for allegedly sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl, documents submitted to the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission state.

And promoting McCoole after he returned from suspension sent the message to other staff that he was “bulletproof”.

McCoole, a former Families SA and Nanny SA carer, was convicted in August last year of sexually abusing young children in state care.

His heinous offending prompted the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission, which is due to report to the State Government on August 5.

Counsel assisting the commission, Emily Telfer, today gave closing submissions in a case study specifically examining McCoole’s actions.

Ms Telfer submitted an analysis of the case and a list of draft recommendations — but only the analysis was made available to media.

It states that information that, in McCoole’s case, “reports of concerning behaviour were not made or not adequately actioned and the behaviour communications of children in care were ignored”.

“The notification of McCoole’s behaviour (in relation to the six-year-old girl) ... was the best opportunity Families SA had to investigate McCoole and rigorously consider the risk he posed to children,” the document states.

“The opportunity was squandered because the systems that were in place to respond to this exact situation were not utilised.

“A competent and attentive worker observed behaviour (by McCoole) that was amiss, recognised it and reported it.
“If the system had functioned in the way it was designed to, the disastrous failures ... may well have been avoided.”

A spokesman for the Education and Child Development Department, which covers Families SA, said recruitment, training and investigation had been “substantially strengthened” since McCoole’s arrest.

“Every member of DECD staff now receives mandatory training on identifying and reporting abuse and neglect,” he said.

“While the department respectfully awaits (Royal Commissioner Margaret Nyland’s) findings we have, as instructed, taken the necessary immediate steps to strengthen internal processes to better protect the children in our care.”

The documents submitted to the commission warned:

FAMILIES SA staff were ill-equipped to recognise and deal with concerning behaviour in children that might indicate sexual abuse or to recognise grooming by a paedophile.

CARERS were reluctant to report co-workers because “they would not be taken seriously, no action would be taken or their professional position would be compromised”.

McCOOLE was “universally disliked” by colleagues, including one who described him as having the “emotional IQ of a peanut”.

Ms Telfer urges Families SA to invest in training staff about trauma, sexualised behaviours, signs of distress and how to talk to children about their distress.

The agency should also allow staff more information about the background of abused or neglected children so they can understand what may be causing their behaviour.

The document points out that training is needed to address stereotypes of child sex offenders and “the erroneous thinking that a paedophile is easily recognised”.

“They (staff) must grapple with the reality that many child sex offenders do not have an exclusive attraction to children and may have wives, partners and children of their own,” it states.

The departmental spokesman said other changes made since McCoole’s arrest included:

ESTABLISHING a centralised investigation unit, led by former police officers, to oversee serious matters.

INTRODUCING new recruitment processes, including thorough background checks and psychological assessment by a registered psychologist.