Child Protection

In reply to the Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (18 June 2014).

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation): The Minister for Education and Child Development has received this advice:

The Department for Education and Child Development (DECD) has a system in place for reporting incidents, including those of sexual abuse. The Incident and Response Management System (IRMS) is a web based system that is used to record, manage, collate and report information relating to all incidents including 'Notifiable Incidents'.

Incidents of sexual abuse are also reported through the Child Abuse Reporting Line and, where appropriate, these incidents are reported directly to SA Police.

Training sessions have been conducted in the use of the IRMS and two full time staff based in the DECD State Office are available to support and advise site staff with incident reporting.

In 2010 both government and non-government education sectors developed guidelines for schools to follow when incidents of problem sexual behaviour involving children and young people occur. Other agencies involved in the guidelines' development were SA Police, Child Protection Services, Families SA, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and various experts, including the Commissioner for Victims Rights.

The responses of staff and other agencies to these incidents are important contributions to the ongoing safety, wellbeing and recovery of children who have been harmed and, importantly, to the prevention of future inappropriate behaviour or sexual offending by young people.

In some circumstances these responses also involve intervention in family violence, abuse or neglect because the behaviours exhibited by the child arise from their own experience as victims.

The guidelines provide a checklist of actions to be taken, a chart of the key agencies' roles and responsibilities and step by step advice on a range of tasks including what information should be shared when, with whom and by whom. They outline the immediate communication responsibilities with parents of all children and young people involved in an incident and the role of SA Police and/or Families SA in that communication.

The guidelines are incorporated in the mandatory child protection training that all new staff undertake as a condition of employment. They are also incorporated into the update training course that all existing staff are required to undertake on a three yearly basis. Since March 2012, over 50,000 personnel across the three education sectors have completed this online training.

The guidelines are titled 'Responding to Problem Sexual Behaviour in Children and Young People' and they are available on the DECD website.

All of DECD's policies relating to safety and wellbeing, including the Problem Sexual Behaviour guidelines, contribute to the prevention of these incidents. This includes behaviour management policies, yard supervision policies, teaching child protection curriculum, anti-bullying and harassment programs, respectful relationships and sexual education.