Child Protection

In reply to Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (20 September 2016).

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

The Child Protection Systems Royal Commission report has no specific recommendations relating to the requirement for staff in the Families SA Call Centre to have a minimum of three years' experience.

The report under Part III, Children at Risk in the Community 'The need for experienced staff' supports the case for staff to have at least three years' field experience (optimal being five years or more) in child protection work.

Of relevance is recommendation 38, which suggests abandoning the proposal to engage unqualified call agents to receive telephone notifications and that calls 'must only be taken by degree-level, tertiary qualified and experienced practitioners'.

This recommendation has been accepted by the government and has resulted in Families SA dismissing a proposal which would have seen trained non-social work staff answer calls to CARL during business hours and record notification information.

The Call Centre has not replaced any staff nor has it established minimum years of child protection experience as a recruitment prerequisite.