More than 150 child protection experts are meeting in Port Augusta this week for a symposium to examine how South Australia supports and empower children engaged with the system.
The South Australian Child Protection and Family Support Symposium puts a spotlight on the complex challenges children and families face and how we respond in regional and remote communities.
“Many South Australian families are facing complex and intergenerational issues that mean they need help creating safe environments for children – our government is determined to help address them,” said Minister for Children Protection, Katrine Hildyard.
“This important symposium will bring together people with the knowledge and experience to help us better support those families.
“We know children and their families and the services that support them can experience unique challenges across regional and remote communities. We also know that those communities also have unique strengths to meet them.
“It’s absolutely critical that we hear the voices of children, young people, birth and carer families impacted, along with those working to support them, as we strengthen and reform the child protection and family support system in ways that help improve the lives of children in every corner of our state.”
Keynote speakers include Director of Australian Catholic University’s Institute of Child Protection Studies, Professor Daryl Higgins who was Chief Investigator for the first national study of the prevalence in Australia of child abuse and neglect and its health outcomes – the groundbreaking Australian Child Maltreatment Study.
Commissioner for Aboriginal Child and Young People, Dale Agius will also address the audience, and there will be panel discussions and showcasing of successful child protection and family support work across the regions.
The symposium builds on the momentum of events held over the past two years, to encourage a whole-of-community, whole of sector and whole of government approach to reforming and strengthening child protection and family support in SA.
“We struggle across our state to meet the level of need among children and families. This is more profound in the regions where there are less services – particularly specialised services,” said Director and Chair of Child Protection, Professor Leah Bromfield.
“Smaller communities often demonstrate great strengths – people know each other, professionals talk, services on the ground work creatively to meet need, community members step up and fill the gaps.
“As we continue to grow the evidence to transform our approach to child protection, our future system needs to be designed to meet the needs of all children and families – whether they live in cities or regional centres.”
Since the first symposium in 2023, a vast range of initiatives and programs have bolstered supports for families and decreased the growth of children and young people coming into care.
These have included improved peer supports, through the establishment of new youth advisory councils, the impact of the Councils for the Minister to hear directly from birth and carer families, a network of events, training and workshops for carers, increasing the use of family group conferencing and bolstering our Finding Families and reunification programs to help children safely stay with family.
Department for Child Protection Chief Executive, Jackie Bray said this year’s symposium will showcase the unique nature of protection work across regional South Australia – from a panel discussion on Family Group Conferencing to discussions with long-serving regional carers.
“Child protection work in regional and remote areas can be very challenging, and I’m looking forward to hearing more from symposium participants about the innovative solutions they have employed to best support children and young people in their areas,” said Ms Bray.
“I’m so pleased to see some of the country’s best minds in child protection coming together in Port Augusta, and grateful to the young people, carers and family members prepared to share their personal stories to help us build a stronger system.”
