Number of children in state care in South Australia passes 4000

More than 4000 children are unable to live safely at home with their parents – a new and sad record for state care.

The number of children in state care has passed 4000 for the first time.

Data to be published online today by the Child Protection Department will show 4003 children were under the guardianship of the state as of July 31, including 1559 living with foster parents, 1856 with relatives, 413 in state-run homes and 93 in emergency housing.

Analysis by The Advertiser of data published online by the department each month during 2018-19 also shows:

THERE were 70,247 calls to the Child Abuse Report Line last financial year, including 13,027 (18.5 per cent) which went unanswered.

THE proportion of unanswered calls has halved over the past four years.

AUTHORITIES recorded 78,196 notifications about suspected child abuse or neglect in 2018-19, which would include multiple reports about the same child or family.

OF those, 28,534 (36.5 per cent) raised concerns deemed to need further investigation.

Data to be published today shows the average wait time for a call to the report line to be answered is 10 minutes and six seconds, up from eight minutes and 55 seconds last July.

The department launched a call-back feature in 2017 and says staff use it to “consistently” return calls within two hours.

In a statement to The Advertiser, Child Protection Minister Rachel Sanderson said it was “a sad indictment of our society that we have reached a total of 4003 children … who are unable to live safely at home with their biological parents”.

Ms Sanderson said the department was “identifying more children who are in need of protection from abuse and neglect” but she would “not apologise for the sad and unfortunate need to remove children” at risk.

“Previously, children were left languishing in unsafe environments due to chronic under-resourcing,” she said.

4003 children were under the guardianship of the state as of July 31.

However, Public Service Association acting general secretary Natasha Brown said social workers still had “too many cases” and could not “give the attention to each young person (that) they believe the young person needs”.

Opposition child protection spokeswoman Jayne Stinson said the number of children in care had risen “despite (Ms Sanderson’s) pre-election vows to reduce the number”.

“After 18 months in the job, Rachel Sanderson has struggled to come up with ideas to reduce the influx of children into care,” Ms Stinson said.

UniSA Professor Leonie Segal said her research showed that young people were spending longer in state care, which she said was likely the “major driver of the increase” in the total number.

Ms Sanderson said the Government had invested in initiatives, including a $2.8 million trial program to support families in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, run by Anglicare SA, and $2.2 million for a support program for Aboriginal families in the western suburbs.

It has also created a new unit within the Human Services Department to co-ordinate early-intervention efforts.

Department acting chief executive Fiona Ward saidthe “rate at which children are entering the care system is greater than what we would like it to be”. But she stressed that the proportion of children being placed in family-type care, such as foster households or with relatives, was growing.

Reignite urgency on vulnerable children

Analysis – Lauren Novak
Today we learn that South Australia’s child-protection system has passed a disheartening milestone.

The number of kids living in state care has risen above 4000 – and there is no indication it is likely to fall any time soon.

Continued growth is neither acceptable nor inevitable but the trend will only worsen until authorities get on top of the driving factors.

The issues that make kids unsafe in their homes – domestic violence, drug or alcohol abuse, mental illness, poverty – are worsening, by most reports.

The State Government insists it is dedicating more effort, staff and cash to tackling these problems, but they are deeply entrenched. Far more resources, and smarter approaches, will be needed to see any impact in trend figures.

Changes to laws and policies are also playing a role.

In line with coronial and royal commission reports, authorities are meant to be making swifter decisions about removing children from unsafe homes and putting less emphasis on keeping families together where things are not improving. This imperative is likely to mean more kids find themselves in care, not less.

Parental responsibility must be part of the solution, too. For example, we know a core group of young mothers in SA give birth to a large proportion of all kids removed.

Each year, about 230 children are able to return to their birth parents, but only after months or years of intense and costly effort by social workers.

Work is being done to attract more foster carers but that won’t drop the numbers either. And it will take time to see any effect of support programs being trialled now.

However, none of this is unchangeable and the passing of this dispiriting milestone must reignite the sense of urgency necessary to turn the tide.