SA Ombudsman slams Families SA over ‘simply staggering’ child protection failures
CHILD protection authorities "plainly failed" two girls left in the care of a suspected sexual abuser by discounting reported concerns without investigation, the Ombudsman has found.
CHILD protection authorities “plainly failed” two girls left in the care of a suspected sexual abuser by discounting reported concerns without investigation, the Ombudsman has found.
Two more children in the care of the same man could now be at risk and Ombudsman Wayne Lines has ordered they be closely watched.
In a summary of a report released today, Mr Lines said the number of cases the Child Protection Department closes without investigation is “simply staggering” and goes against child protection laws.
In one case, the department appears to accept that workers had carried out their duty to investigate by “merely faxing” a report to SA Police.
In the summary, Mr Lines explained his office had finished a “lengthy” investigation which was sparked by a handwritten letter from a prisoner who raised serious concerns about two girls in the care of a man “alleged by the prisoner to be a known sexual predator”.
The investigation covered reports made mostly prior to 2017, when the state’s child protection agency was known as Families SA. However, Mr Lines also raises concerns about another boy and girl currently in the man’s care who could be at risk and he criticises current practices of the now Child Protection Department.
A statement released by the Department on Friday afternoon clarified the man was not employed by the department and the children were not in the care of the state.
The Ombudsman’s investigation centred around a man known as Peter, who was caring for two girls known as Kate and Emma. They are now adults with their own children.
More than 50 reports were made concerning the safety of the girls and past allegations that they were being sexually abused by Peter. He was also alleged to have sexually abused three other girls.
None of those allegations were proven by Families SA at the time, no police chargers were laid and the girls were allowed to remain in Peter’s care.
However, the current department has since acknowledged that there was “a high likelihood that Peter sexually abused” Emma years earlier.
Mr Lines found that “at no stage during the girls’ childhood did (Families SA) ever” inspect Peter’s home, set eyes on Kate or Emma or interview them, interview their mother, the other alleged victims or anyone who made concerned reports nor formally interview Peter or his partner.
Instead, Mr Lines found the agency tended to “shift responsibility for investigating the allegations to SA Police” and as a result it had “plainly failed the two girls”.
Two children known as Sarah and Jacob are now living with Peter. There have not been any concerns reported to child protection authorities about the children but Mr Lines said the agency had “failed to adequately consider the past allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated by Peter”.
He warned that without a change in approach by the department “it appeared possible that Sarah and Jacob would also be failed by the system”.
Since being approached by Mr Lines about the case, the agency has made contact with the parents of Sarah and Jacob and he has requested that it report back next year.
A departmental spokeswoman said it “cannot comment on specifics of individual matters” but it will “remain engaged with this family to manage the children’s ongoing safety” and regularly report to the Ombudsman.
Mr Lines also criticised the department for closing down three reports raising concerns which it had assessed as “serious and compelling” without taking any action.
The summary states that in each case “the agency had no basis to conclude that the matters causing the child to be at risk were being adequately addressed so as to negate the need for a response”.
Mr Lines found that despite being “contrary to law” this was a common practice by the department and the proportion of reports closed without action each year was “simply staggering”.
The spokeswoman said the department was implementing a raft of changes recommended by the Nyland Royal Commission which would improve how concerns are received and responded to.