3 November, 2016
Themes from Nyland #9
The team from the Guardian’s office have analysed the 850 pages and 260 recommendations from The life they deserve: Child Protection Systems Royal Commission Report[1]. We have extracted some themes and priorities to allow us to critique the government’s response, judge the improvements over time and to shape our own work. Following is a description of the issues and a short list of things to watch for in the reform process. The first eight in the series are available.[2] We will post the rest over the next few weeks. [3]
We would hope for all children that they are safe and settled in a care situation that fulfils all of their needs. Commissioner Nyland describes how this is not always the case for South Australia’s children even from the point at which they enter care.
Once removed, the child’s need for stability and certainty is given insufficient weight. Attempts to reunify children with their parents drag on for far too long, causing instability as well as denying young children the certainty of the attachment relationships crucial for their development…many children taken into care are subsequently reunified with their parents when the issues that undermined their safety in the first place have not been sustainably addressed.
She recommends that formal permanency planning should start with the imposition of the court order that places the child into care and that time limits be set for reunification efforts after which long-term orders should be sought.
The current system fails to assign to every child in care a social worker who regularly visits and this failure raises stability and safety issues for children. Annual reviews of the circumstances of each child in care, also required by legislation, are sometimes not done or done poorly, which removes another level of safety and continuity that should be in place.
South Australia has an extraordinarily high rate of placement instability compared to other Australian jurisdictions…Placements that appear to be in danger of breaking down should be promptly identified. Early therapeutic support would help carers who may be having difficulty in coping with the challenges of caring for children with high or complex needs.
Each time a child changes placement it can inhibit the formation of attachments to people, place and community, undermine formation of healthy identity and disrupt schooling. Children can be further distressed by having little or no say in the decision making, timing and destination of new placements.
A young person’s need for stability and support does not cease when they turn 18. In a later post we will consider how they can be assisted to make a smooth transition to independence and the support they need to continue through further education, entry into the workforce and beyond.
As reform progresses we look forward to seeing:
- Permanency planning for children that commences at the time of an order bringing a child into care.
- Concurrent planning being given greater emphasis in case planning, especially for children while they are forming attachments.
- Annual reviews being universal, independently chaired and subject to revised and more rigorously enforced standards.
- A review of the reasons for the low level of Other Person Guardianship in South Australia.
- All children currently receiving a differential response be assessed for eligibility for Other Person Guardianship.
- Every child in care being allocated a social worker who visits them at regular intervals determined by an assessment of the circumstances and the child’s preference.
- Involvement of the child in discussion about the need for placement change and how and when it will occur.
- The inclusion of the voice of the child in all discussions at which decisions are made about significant matters that affect them.
Please join the discussion via the reply box leaving a name and an email address in the spaces provided. We will remove them from the published post if you request in your reply.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all quotes are from The life they deserve: Child Protection Systems Royal Commission Report,
[2] See also posts on Coordination and Collaboration, The voice of the child , Emergency care , Residential care, Home-based care, Therapeutic care – everywhere. Aboriginal children and Education.
[3] This is not intended to be a précis of Commissioner Nyland’s report which provides a very clear and readable summary. Because of the Guardian’s mandate, this analysis will tend to focus on issues for children in out-of-home-care.
