Child Protection

180 Ms SANDERSON (Adelaide) (24 September 2015). Has Families SA now implemented proactive measures to ensure a child's safety rather than waiting until there is chronic neglect or extreme danger before getting involved and can the minister list the programs and amount of funding that has been attributed to each program as part of these measures?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills): I have been advised:

Families SA has been implementing a range of family support services to support families at risk of breakdown so that children can remain safely at home.

Family support services include two programs, which are Targeted Intervention and Family Preservation and Reunification Service. These services are provided to children, young people and families to improve family functioning, prevent family breakdown, decrease the occurrence of child abuse and neglect and reduce the likelihood of children entering out of home care.

These services were developed in response to the increased number of notifications and children entering out-of-home care. Services are currently delivered by six non-government organisations across South Australia in close partnership with Families SA offices.

The types of interventions offered through these programs may include: parenting skills development, counselling, practical structured in-home assistance, therapeutic interventions, children's services in relation to playgroups and links to other community networks and services.

Funding allocated to family support services for the two financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16 is as follows.

In 2014-15, $6,163,276 is allocated to the Targeted Intervention Program and $3,714,028 to the Family Preservation and Reunification Services, totalling $9,877,304.

In 2015-16, this increases to $6,409,804 allocated to the Targeted Intervention Program and $3,952,246 to Family Preservation and Reunification Services, totalling $10,335,050.