State Government to introduce Chloe Valentine legislation
PARENTS convicted of causing serious harm or endangering life - in addition to murder, manslaughter or criminal neglect - would have their children removed by authorities at birth, if laws to be put to Parliament are approved.
PARENTS convicted of causing serious harm or endangering life - in addition to murder, manslaughter or criminal neglect - would have their children removed by authorities at birth, if laws to be put to Parliament are approved.
Child Protection Reform Minister John Rau today revealed he would introduce legislation on Wednesday to update the Children’s Protection Act.
The changes stem from recommendations made by State Coroner Mark Johns following a coronial inquest into the death of four-year-old Chloe Valentine.
Chloe died in the care of her mother and her mother’s then-partner in 2012, and was the subject of more than 20 child protection notifications to Families SA.
Mr Johns recommended the State Government enable authorities to remove a child, at birth, from the care of a parent who has been convicted of manslaughter or murder.
Today, Mr Rau revealed Government legislation would go further and include convictions for offences causing serious harm and acts endangering life or causing serious harm.
“The proposed amendments are significant and will make lasting change to the child protection system,” Mr Rau said.
Mr Rau also announced he would move to set up a parliamentary committee to examine ways the child protection system could be more proactive in ensuring the safety of newborns and young children.
The committee would examine opportunities for early intervention for newborns, the effectiveness of the current home visits program and other related issues.
“The Government is committed to the implementation of the Coroner’s recommendations in a timely manner,” Mr Rau said.
In relation to other recommendations made by the Coroner Mr Rau said:
HE had written to the Commonwealth Government about the broader implementation of income management in SA.
EDUCATION and Child Development Department chief Tony Harrison had issued a direction to Families SA staff about the “importance of accurate note-taking”.
LEGISLATION would be changed to take account of the impact of cumulative harm to children who are repeatedly subjected to abuse or neglect and to make the welfare of a child the central consideration of the Children’s Protection Act.
Mr Rau said he had asked for a working group of departmental officials to consider remaining coronial recommendations and “initial work is already underway”.
Speaker Michael Atkinson also revealed that Families SA had not been reporting to Parliament on the use of a section of the Children’s Protection Act about applications for drug assessments in cases where children were at suspected risk because of illicit drug use by parent.
Opposition child protection spokeswoman Rachel Sanderson said on Monday that changes were needed immediately.
She has drafted her own legislation, which she said she would have introduced into State Parliament today if the Government had not brought its own laws.
“This is extremely urgent and they need to get on with it,” Ms Sanderson said.
“The coroner’s inquest into the death of Chloe Valentine found that for most of her life Chloe suffered chronic neglect but Families SA didn’t pay adequate heed to the cumulative impact of that neglect.
“The problem was Families SA approached each notification about Chloe without reference to preceding notifications and the ongoing neglect across her short life.
“As a consequence, chronic neglect was allowed to continue and ultimately resulted in Chloe’s death.”
The Advertiser previously reported SA research showing about 60 per cent of children abused or neglected by their family are the subject of repeated reports to authorities.
The study found thousands of children are at times living in unsafe or unhygienic conditions but reports about their welfare may not meet the criteria for intervention.