SA Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard releases review of child protection laws

A major change to SA child protection laws would mean a lot more kids aren’t reported for checks to swamped authorities – but could it have fatal consequences?

The threshold for when a vulnerable child must be reported to authorities should be raised to capture those “at risk of significant harm” and ensure the most serious cases are acted on.

The proposed change is among the findings of a seven-month review of the state’s child protection laws released by Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard.

More than 900 people gave feedback and “a majority” argued the threshold for reporting a child to the Department for Child Protection (DCP) should be raised.

Currently mandatory notifiers must report any suspicion about a child who “is, or may be, at risk” of harm.

The DCP is being swamped by reports under this model, fielding 83,000 notifications last financial year.

Staff must spend time assessing each report, but only about 40 per cent of those notifications were deemed to require further investigation or action.

Ms Hildyard said a key message from public consultation on the current laws was “ensuring serious cases are more readily identified” by reconsidering the threshold for reporting suspected abuse or neglect.

It follows similar calls by former police commissioner Mal Hyde and Uniting Communities chief executive officer Simon Schrapel.

Katrine Hildyard during Question Time. Picture: Newswire / Naomi Jellicoe

The review, tabled in state parliament on Thursday, noted that setting a threshold of a child “at risk of significant harm” would bring SA into line with laws in NSW, the NT, Queensland and Victoria and “enable a focus on those children most at risk”.

However, family members of children who have died after being reported to child protection authorities have raised fears that others could be missed if a narrower definition is imposed.

Janet Wells’ grandchildren Amber Rigney, 6, and Korey Mitchell, 5, were murdered in 2016 after multiple reports were made about their welfare.

“That kid that you don’t report could be the one like Amber and Korey that could slip through the system,” Ms Wells said.

The review noted some feedback “expressed concern that narrowing the threshold to imminent risk” would mean authorities did not collect enough information to show if a child was being subjected to lower-level abuse or neglect over a longer period of time.

They suggested adding a definition of this kind of “cumulative harm” to the legislation.

Ms Hildyard said she was considering the review findings before introducing new legislation to parliament.

The review also heard the laws should be updated to:

HOLD other government agencies accountable for providing “priority” support to vulnerable children and their families, not just DCP.

ENSURE all families where children are deemed unsafe are offered a Family Group Conference before any decision to remove a child.