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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-03-07 Daily Xml
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Child Protection

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (14:34): My question is to the Minister for Child Protection. How is the government supporting families facing difficult circumstances to stay together?

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) (14:34): I thank the member for this question and for her interest in the safety and wellbeing of families facing serious challenges. We know that one in three children in South Australia are notified to child protection before they are 18 and that many families experience deeply complex and interconnected issues.

Our government also knows, that in order for children and young people to have the best opportunity to physically, mentally and emotionally thrive and to be safe, loved and nurtured, we need a whole-of-government, whole-of-community and whole-of-sector response to the complex circumstances currently facing many children and young people and their families. We need to recognise the strength and love that may exist in extended families and enable that strength and love to support children and families when needed.

The Malinauskas government has committed an additional $16.6 million to South Australia's child protection system with a focus on improving opportunities to keep children safe and supported within their family unit and on Aboriginal-led initiatives that will help to progress the transformational change that is needed; $13.4 million is being invested to expand family group conferencing where extended families come together to find solutions and to enable individual family members to contribute in ways that help keep children safely at home.

This voluntary process is led by families for families and provides an opportunity for family and community members to come together, with the support and resources to make decisions in the best interests of the child. Better resourcing for family group conferencing recognises and enables those strengths in extended families, creates opportunities to achieve better outcomes for children and creates support mechanisms so that children have improved opportunities to safely stay with their families and in their homes.

The over-representation of Aboriginal children in care means we still have to do much more to address the needs of Aboriginal families. I am really pleased to inform the house that the government is also committing $3.2 million to establish an independent community-controlled peak body to improve care and protection outcomes for Aboriginal children and young people. A properly resourced peak body for Aboriginal children and young people is a step that community leaders have wanted for some time. We have listened and we are proud of our commitment to establish that peak body to support Aboriginal-led solutions and build the capacity of the Aboriginal-controlled sector to deliver services that have the best chance of leading to better outcomes for Aboriginal children.

In strengthening the Aboriginal community-controlled sector, we recognise that Aboriginal people and organisations are best placed to provide culturally safe and effective services for Aboriginal children and their families. I thank the Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People, April Lawrie, for her commitment and advocacy for this peak body. Her advocacy and that of other Aboriginal community leaders and elders led to the state government engaging SNAICC, the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, to lead a process to identify a preferred model for the peak body in South Australia.

The new funding for these measures adds to the more than $155 million committed to the child protection system since last year's state election and represents a nation-leading step forward in tackling the complex circumstances that children and their families face.

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