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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-02-07 Daily Xml
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Ministerial Statement

Hyde Review Safety Checks for Children

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD (Reynell—Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (16:10): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Safety checks for 526 vulnerable children identified in Mal Hyde's 2022 Review of Child Deaths at Munno Para and Craigmore have been completed. The checks were coordinated by SAPOL and completed by child protection workers from the Department for Child Protection and the Department of Human Services. The completion of this task marks the successful implementation of the fourth recommendation of Mr Mal Hyde's report.

The report examined the circumstances surrounding two specific cases: the tragic deaths of seven-year-old Makai in February and six-year-old Charlie in July. All 31 of the Hyde report's recommendations have been accepted in principle by the state government. The 526 children were identified in a profiling exercise undertaken by the Office for Data Analytics and the government immediately undertook to assess the status of the children and implement any actions required to keep them safe.

The government and community expectation was that the assessment of any potential risk to each child, including a physical sighting and assessment of their circumstances by a trained child protection professional, would be undertaken as a matter of priority. Prior to the commencement of this exercise, government agencies were already working with 57 per cent of the families of the potential at-risk children identified and work with a number of these children and families will continue. A number of the interventions were already in the process of being progressed by DCP or DHS child protection workers in the ordinary course of their duties.

On initial analysis of the 526 cases, the characteristics observed included 65 children, or 12 per cent, were in care at the beginning of the process and 214 children, or 41 per cent, were identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders. I can report that as of 31 January 2023:

all 526 children have been personally sighted by either a DCP or DHS child protection worker during home visits;

45 children were assessed by child protection staff as having safety issues present within the family at the time of the assessment;

a range of interventions have been implemented for children in unsafe situations, including family group conferencing, initiation of safety plans, referrals to appropriate services and the removal of 12 children or 2 per cent of the total; and

10 of these children who were removed were already part of open and active cases prior to the commencement of the assessments.

Child protection is incredibly complex, with children and families facing interconnected issues that create entrenched and often intergenerational trauma. A number of these issues were prevalent in homes visited during this process, including domestic violence, mental ill health and poverty.

Work with children and families at risk is often a long-term undertaking and that will include those included in this exercise. Prior to the Hyde review, a number of investments were made and measures implemented to help keep children and young people safer. Our work and steadfast commitment to improve the child protection system to help make a positive difference in children's lives continues. I am pleased that this multiagency task has been completed ahead of schedule and thank all the dedicated staff at the Department for Child Protection, the Department of Human Services and the South Australia Police who have worked so hard to ensure appropriate measures have been taken to help keep children safe.

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