Reuniting children in state care with their families is getting harder because of violence, drugs and mental health issues

Reuniting children with their families is getting tougher because of issues of domestic violence, drugs and mental health.

Abby was two months old when she was removed from her mother’s care.

Over the next two years child protection workers attempted to reunite the baby with her mum but she repeatedly failed drug tests and even showed up to access visits while under the influence.

Eventually the decision was made to place the then-toddler with family interstate but little Abby had lost vital years in which she should have been forming important bonds.

Abby’s case is detailed by former judge Margaret Nyland in her 2016 review of the state’s child protection system.

Back then she warned that authorities held “excessive optimism” that Abby could be returned to her mother.

Almost three years later data reveals that more children are spending longer in state care because authorities cannot, or are not willing, to return them to their parents.

More children are spending longer in state care because authorities cannot, or are not willing, to return them to their parents.

By the time they leave state-run or foster homes, about a third of children have been there for five years or more.

Authorities say it is becomingly increasingly difficult to reunite them with parents who are struggling with drug or alcohol addiction, mental illness or domestic violence. Data released to The Advertiser by the Child Protection Department shows the problem has been worsening over the past five years.

Prior to 2013-14 the largest group among children leaving state care had been there for one to six months.

So what is causing the bottleneck? Recent policy changes may have contributed, including laws passed in the wake of the Nyland Royal Commission which set shorter timelines for when children should be placed permanently with foster carers after being removed from their parents, to give them more stability.

In some cases parents are not be able to make the required improvements in time to regain custody.

Separate legislation, enacted following a coronial inquest into the death of four-year-old Chloe Valentine, placed more emphasis on the welfare of a child ahead of efforts to maintain the family unit.

This shift means children should be less likely to be sent back to parents who have not made significant changes.

New laws, passed following the death of Chloe Valentine, placed more emphasis on the welfare of a child.

Child Protection Department chief executive Cathy Taylor says the problems posing the greatest barriers to reuniting families are “multiple and complex issues, including domestic and family violence, drug and alcohol misuse and mental health issues”.

“The chronic and interconnected nature of these issues means that addressing factors that compromise parents’ ability to care for their children has also become more complex,” she says. Data released by the State Government’s new Early Intervention Research Directorate shows domestic violence is now happening in more than two-thirds of cases in which families are reported to child protection authorities before their baby is even born.

Its prevalence has prompted the department to develop a new policy to help staff better recognise the signs of family violence in homes and understand its impact on children.

The department has also increased the number of drug tests it orders at-risk parents to undergo. Analysis of a small sample of tests found one in five return a positive result.

Reports of children born showing symptoms of drug withdrawal are increasing too, peaking at 90 in 2016-17.

Reports of children born showing symptoms of drug withdrawal are increasing.

SA Network of Drug and Alcohol Services executive director Michael White says parents who are dependent on drugs deserve the opportunity to get treatment which enables them “to go back to being parents”, but argues there are not enough services available.

Mr White also notes that alcohol abuse is far more prevalent than illicit drug abuse but “we don’t see the same rates of removal (of children) as from parents that are dependent on other substances”. There are now about 3800 children living in state care, about 1200 more than five years ago.

Ms Taylor says the increase is not necessarily a result of huge growth in the numbers of children being removed from unsafe homes, but a consequence of not being able to move them out of the system again.

“Our challenge is not just to focus on the new entrants but … those children and young people who are currently in care and whether there are opportunities for them to reunify and be returned to their family,” she says.

Experts warn that reuniting families becomes increasingly difficult after 12 months apart. The greatest success rates occur with younger children, and in cases of neglect rather than physical or sexual abuse.

Nyland’s report cites data showing about a fifth of children who are reunited with their parents end up back in state care down the track.

Centacare Catholic Family Services runs an Adolescent Reunification Program trying to get young people aged 12 to 18 back with their parents. A separate Reunification Service works with families of newborns to 18-year-olds. In some cases, authorities can apply for a court order requiring parents to abide by certain conditions for 12 months so as to keep their children in their care. But Child Protection Party secretary Nadia Bergineti says these are rarely used.

Kids kept in state care for longer

Over the past five years, between 385 and 442 children left state care each year.

■ The largest proportion had lived in state-run or foster homes for five years or more:

2013-14:122 of 411 children who left care (29.6 per cent).

2014-15:130 of 399 (32.6 per cent)

2015-16: 119 of 385 (30.9 per cent)

2016-17: 134 of 423 (31 per cent)

2017-18: 163 of 442 (36.8 per cent)

■ In the years prior to 2013-14 the largest proportion of children leaving care had been there for one to six months.

Source: Report on Government Services

 

For support phone:

■National sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service: 1800 RESPECT

■Alcohol and Drug Information Service: 1300 13 13 40

■Family Drug Support Australia: 1300 368 186

■SANE : 1800 187 263