SA Child Protection Department won’t give full details on staff sackings, suspensions

The number of child protection workers sacked in recent years, including for drug use, has been revealed – but critics say there’s more left to tell.

At least 36 child protection workers have been suspended in the past five years, including over allegations of drug use.

The Department for Child Protection (DCP) has confirmed 31 of those workers were suspended on pay while they were investigated, five were suspended without pay and 20 were eventually sacked.

The department, which employs 2500 people, has not released any of the workers’ names or details about the roles they held.

The incidents that led to suspensions or sackings were recorded between June 1, 2018, and May 3, 2023.

Five workers were suspended over allegations of drug misuse. Other reasons included misconduct and performance issues.

Steve Egberts and Janet Wells lost grandchildren Amber Rigney, 6, and Korey Mitchell, 5, when they were murdered alongside their mother Adeline Yvette Rigney-Wilson in May 2016. Kelly Barnes/The Australian

The Opposition and relatives of children who died after concerns about their welfare were reported to DCP have called for more information to be released.

“Has there been a child who has got hurt through this?” asked Janet Wells, whose is preparing for the seventh anniversary of the murder of her grandchildren Amber Rigney, 6, and Korey Mitchell, 5, next week.

Multiple reports were made to authorities before they were killed alongside their mother Yvette Rigney-Wilson, by her then-partner.

“We should know what office (the sacked or suspended workers) are connected to, what their position was ... and some details about what they did,” Ms Wells said.

“We need to know more.”

Opposition child protection spokesman Josh Teague agreed that to improve the under-pressure system “we need greater transparency”.

“With a record number of children in state care any number of dismissals is concerning, however we need to make sure we have the best possible people looking after the state’s vulnerable children,” he said.

DCP interim chief executive Erma Ranieri said it “takes any allegations of misconduct or breaches of the public sector code of ethics seriously”.

Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard said the department was responsible for managing staff to “ensure community expectations are met”.

Misconduct and breaches of the code “will not be tolerated and appropriate action will be taken”, she said.

Former Department for Child Protection worker Mohammad Aref Ghaffari outside court. It is not known if he was among the 36 stood down. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Roy VanDerVegt

In December 2022 The Advertiser reported that DCP worker Mohammad Aref Ghaffari was fined and given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of interfering with a second-hand vehicle’s odometer and two counts of dishonest dealing with documents.

Ghaffari, who began working for the DCP in 2016, was fined $4200 and ordered to serve a two-year, 24-day prison term.

Auxiliary Magistrate Clive Kitchen recorded convictions but opted to suspend Ghaffari’s sentence on condition of a 12-month good behaviour bond.

Ghaffari wiped almost 400,000km from the odometers of two Toyotas and sold them for $26,000 profit in 2021.

In December 2022 Ghaffari’s lawyer, Aaron Almeida, told the court: “Recording a conviction would spoil his re-entry into (the child protection) industry which is, really, the only career he knows”.

The incoming head of DCP, Jackie Bray, will start in the role on June 1.