Royal Commission into SA child protection demands hundreds of changes after pedophile’s horrific crimes
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- Category: Child Protection South Australia media and newspaper articles
- Created: Monday, 08 August 2016 16:37
- Written by AAP
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has urged voters to trust in his ability to fix child protection in the state, after a royal commission demanded hundreds of changes to the tragedy-plagued system.
But the opposition says Mr Weatherill is inextricably linked to the serious failings identified and has no choice but to resign.
In her final report after two years of investigations, former Supreme Court Justice Margaret Nyland has called for dramatic changes to what she's described as a child protection system in crisis.
Commercial childcare workers would be phased out from residential care homes, social workers would be banned from closing files because of a lack of resources and all child protection workers would be subject to a public screening register.
Residential homes would house no more than four children at once and kids under 10 would no longer be kept in care homes unless it was to keep siblings together.
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Ms Nyland has also called for complaints of abuse by carers to be investigated within 48 hours and finalised within six weeks.
Many of the 260 recommendations in the 850-page report relate to Families SA's failure to prevent the horrific crimes of carer Shannon McCoole, who is serving a 35-year jail term for sexually abusing seven children under his supervision.
Mr Weatherill on Monday apologised for failing to protect vulnerable children, saying he took full responsibility for deficiencies within the system.
He said the government was "fiercely committed" to making a fresh start in child protection in partnership with non-government organisations.
The premier has promised an initial spend of $200 million over four years to implement changes, some of which will be made immediately.
"Some of them are very expensive and they're going to require a lot of resources," he told reporters.
"Ultimately where that lands, we'll have a better idea towards the end of the year.
"There are substantial criticisms of my government in this report and if we can't demonstrate that we are making progress then we will be judged harshly, as we should be."
Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said Mr Weatherill's 2012 decision to combine the departments of child protection and education had led to a lack of oversight and accountability within Families SA.
The government has since promised to create a stand-alone child protection department and recruit a new chief but Mr Marshall said the premier could not be trusted to oversee other changes after years of mismanagement.
"This is the largest inquiry into a government since the State Bank collapse and we know exactly what happened there," he told reporters.
"The premier of the day took responsibility and he resigned as the premier of our state."
Source : https://au.news.yahoo.com/sa/a/32270087/royal-commission-into-sa-child-protection-demands-hundreds-of-changes-after-pedophile-s-horrific-crimes/#page1
