SA father says DCP, Minister ignored pleas for daughters’ safety for eight months

A father who fears his daughters’ lives are at risk while they are with their mother says his pleas for help were ignored by authorities for eight months.

A father who fears his young daughters’ lives are at risk while they are with their mother says the Child Protection Department and minister ignored his pleas for help for eight months.

It was not until contacted by The Advertiser on Friday that Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard said she would step in and discuss his case.

The man first raised the alarm in January when he says the eldest of his two daughters, aged 7, told him her mother had “grabbed my neck and squeezed”.

He took the girl to hospital where a mandatory notification was made to the Child Protection Department, and the disclosure was reported to police the next day.

The man, who asked to remain anonymous to protect his daughters, said a hospital doctor told him the Child Protection Department had advised he not return the girls to their mother and said they would contact him soon.

However, this did not happen and he has since continued sharing custody of the girls.

The man said he feared for his daughters’ safety because his ex-partner allegedly committed abuse against him and the children during their relationship.

The father has been worried about his daughters’ safety for eight months. Picture: iStock.

The father, who holds a valid working with children clearance, said he called and emailed multiple people within the department and minister’s office over the past eight months.

Despite detailing his concerns and receiving undertakings that someone would get back to him, he said no one has spoken to him about what safeguards, if any, could be put in place to ensure the girls are safe.

“They’ve been completely unwilling to communicate with me to keep them safe. They’ve had all this time and lots of reminders,” he told The Advertiser.

“When their mum and I still lived together … she’d implied that if I (went to authorities) that she was going to kill herself and the girls. Since then there’s been numerous occasions where both the girls have had strange unexplained injuries that seem suspicious.

“It’s entirely possible that it will escalate. I’m scared … terrified.

“Should anything further happen to my children, I would like to think that the Child Protection Department would have done all they could to help.”

A spokeswoman for the department on Friday said it “takes allegations of abuse and neglect against children and young people seriously”.

“We are aware of the family and the needs of the children. Services are in place to support the children,” she said, but did not elaborate.

The man said a counsellor he sees referred his concerns to the state’s Family Safety Framework – a peak body which brings together multiple agencies and is led by SA Police – but it was not examined.

The Advertiser contacted Ms Hildyard’s office about the case earlier this month and asked them to contact the man. He said this did not happen until Friday, when this story was prepared for publication.

A spokesman for Ms Hildyard said: “These matters were brought to the attention of the minister’s office and the minister ensured they were referred to the Department of Child Protection for further examination”.

Both the department and Ms Hildyard’s office said allegations of a criminal nature “have been referred to SA Police”.

The Advertiser’s Save Our Kids campaign is lobbying for improvements to the child protection system following the high-profile deaths of two children.