The Department for Child Protection has issued a new report on the relevance of the State’s laws for protecting children.
The report follows an SA-wide consultation on the legislation that underpins the critical work involved in helping to keep children safe and enabled to thrive.
According to the Department more than 900 South Australians contributed to the review of the Child and Young People Safety Act 2017, canvassing a range of opportunities to improve and strengthen the law for it to support better outcomes for families, children and young people across the State.
The Minister for Child Protection, Katrine Hildyard thanked the many South Australians who provided feedback during the public consultation process which helped informing the Report.
“Amongst a comprehensive vision to achieve positive reform, we are determined to progress legislative change that strengthens outcomes for children, young people and their families,” Ms Hildyard said.
“We heard from such a wide range of people across the State – young people, carers, Government and non-Government stakeholders, Aboriginal organisations and communities and other community members,” she said.
“Each of them generously and actively shared their experiences and thinking about how we can strengthen the legislation to improve outcomes for children and young people.
“I look forward to continuing the conversation with South Australians as we work toward the introduction of legislation and progress reform that helps improve children’s lives.”
Ms Hildyard said the key themes emerging from the first consultation round included considering a child’s best interests in all decision-making under the Act and ensuring serious cases were more readily identified through considering the threshold for reporting concerns.
She said the Review’s findings would contribute to the consideration of legislative change with a draft Bill to further widespread consultation before any changes were debated in Parliament.
Access to the 38-page Report can be accessed via the Department’s website at this PS News link.
