Number of children in state care surges to 4646, report reveals

Almost 300 more children have been removed from South Australian families this year, reaching a shock new total.

The number of children in state care has surged to 4646 this year, up by almost 300 compared to 2020, latest statistics shows.

The Auditor-General’s report into the Child Protection Department has also revealed the average cost of care per child per year has shot up from $68,500 in 2020 to $72,000 this year.

And while the number of wards of the state has swelled by 33 per cent, or 1162 children, over the past five years, the amount of money spent on services has only increased by two per cent, or $7 million, the document shows.

The revelation has prompted Labor to demand Child Protection Minister Rachael Sanderson explain why there is such an inequity between the rise in the number of children in state care and the cash spent on services for them.

Ms Sanderson says an increase in children entering state care is a nationwide problem and the state government is delivering a record $52 million towards tailored services to support vulnerable children and their families.

The Auditor-General’s report, which has been tabled in state parliament, reveals there were 4646 children in state care as at June 30 this year. This is up from 4370 the previous year and 3984 the year before.

Opposition child protection spokeswoman Katrine Hildyard urged Ms Sanderson to “explain why the number of children in care is skyrocketing yet expenditure on services and supports for children in care is not”.

Minister Rachel Sanderson at Old Parliament House. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

“Children in care deserve to be safe, protected and enabled to physically, mentally and emotionally thrive,” she said.

“This report again highlights that Minister Sanderson is lacking in ensuring that they are.”

Ms Sanderson hit back, saying Labor’s track recorded in child protection was “disgraceful” and the Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas had “not put one positive idea forward in more than three years”.

“We won’t apologise for intervening to keep children and young people safe from abuse,” she said.

Ms Sanderson said the “small increase” in the cost of care per child was in part linked to an increase in specialist disability care.

Child protection was thrust back into the spotlight last week when it was revealed in court that a teenage boy in state care was lured from his home and abused by a man he met on a dating app.

Richard Ian Squires, 39, of Magill, connected with the 16-year-old ward of the state on Grindr, a dating app for men, then sexually abused him.

Squires pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a child and will be sentenced this week.

He is the latest in a series of men who came before the court for abusing vulnerable children in state care.