Reviewing the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission Report 2016

This report provides an analysis of the South Australian Child Protection Systems Royal Commission Report 2016, which investigated the adequacy of the state's child protection system. The report emphasizes the need for collaborative efforts between governmental and non-governmental agencies to safeguard children from abuse and neglect. It highlights issues such as poor information sharing, lack of service coordination, and the absence of a strong evidence base for interventions. The analysis includes various policy options, such as establishing a human resource unit, employing qualified practitioners, implementing a structural assessment framework, and providing active support and training to agency staff. Recommendations are provided to the government to improve policies, including establishing an efficient legal aid protocol, promoting research on child abuse, implementing primary and secondary prevention programs, and appointing a Chief Executive with strong leadership skills and expertise in child protection. Desklib offers more solved assignments and past papers for students.

Running head: CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Criminology and Criminal Justice
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Background......................................................................................................................................3
Options.............................................................................................................................................5
Recommendations............................................................................................................................7
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................9

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Child Protection Systems Royal Commission Report 2016
Introduction
The responses to severe child abuse especially abuse that requires police investigation is
possible if several different workers across disciplinary backgrounds and agencies work together
in an effective manner. In South Australia, several children that were under the care of the state
have been subjected to neglect and abuse not only by their families but also by the system that
was under obligation to safeguard such children. The South Australian child protection systems
includes several governmental and non-governmental agencies that are required to work together
in order to safeguard the children.
The Child Protection Systems Royal Commission was established in August 2014 for
investigating the adequacy of the South Australian Child Protection system. The report
specifically emphasized on the fact that the reforms made by the statutory agency must not be
confined to the agency only as the statutory agency is not solely responsible for ensuring safety
of the children (Nyland 2016). In order to ensure quality living standards for such children who
are likely to be caused harm, it is important for both government and non-government agencies
to bring about changes beyond the statutory operations.
The Child Protection System Royal Commission Report 2016 is recognized as a
landmark for the child protection system in South Australia, which has endowed the state with an
opportunity to bring about positive change for the welfare of the children. The following policy
option paper shall entail the information related to the efficacy of the child protection system in
South Australia and shall further include options and recommendations that will enhance the

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effectiveness of the child protection system of the state in safeguarding children against all types
of abuses, neglects or harm (Nyland 2016).
Background
The report was made after the Commissioner perused all the prevailing practices, policies
and laws along with the child framework that was in place to safeguard children against any
harm, abuse or neglects including those children that were under the Ministerial guardianship.
The report stated that the prevailing child protection system was based on an outdated model that
did not undergo any changes since it was established to respond to child maltreatment when such
incidents were considered as rare and isolated incidents.
However, presently, responding to child abuse neglect and allegations require
engagement of workers from different professional disciplines and several agencies who shall
work in cooperation and in an effective manner. The critical incidents, child deaths and frequent
inquiries related to systems are highlighting the poor information sharing procedure across the
agencies. Further, the lack of service coordination has also emerged as a significant issue that is
likely increasing the risk of harm for the children. Under such circumstances, it is important to
provide a coordinated as well as a holistic response such as the Royal Commission Report 2016,
as it is considered as fundamental for addressing the issues and promoting child welfare as well
as child safety.
In cases of alleged child abuse, police investigation is mandatory as the child protection
authorities and policy must come into terms to work together and conduct their investigations
with respect to criminal activities to ensure safety of the child. Apart from the police
investigations, forensic medical examination and other related services like therapeutic services

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are equally important, as they are ideal interventions to address any issues pertaining to family
environment of the children. Such early interventions shall not only safeguard children from
abuse or neglect or harm but shall also provide assistance to the children as well as to their no-
offending parents to recover from any such unfortunate incidents (Bailey, Powell and Brubacher
2017).
As per the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission Report 2016, the child
protection system in South Australia does not have any strong evidence base for strategies and
interventions. Further, since the other interventions usually after a strong evidence base is
developed, it becomes difficult, especially when the evidence base is not adequate, to assess
whether such interventions are actually making any difference to the consequences for the
children and their families. While every worker engaged in the prevention of children against
abuse, harm or neglect must act in the best interest of the children, it is often construed distinctly
depending on the disciplinary background of the professionals and the roles played by the
various organizations that are involved in ensuring safety of the children.
According to Herbert and Bromfield (2017) the existing differences in interpretation of
‘best interest’ of a child and the lack of understanding as well as communication between the
workers and agencies often result in a poor response leading to distress and confusion for the
children as well as their respective families. Similarly, Moore et al. (2015) asserts that in the
absence of proper and adequate communication as well as coordination between the agencies
might have an adverse impact on the child as well as their families (provided they are not the
offenders) unless the risks associated with the children are not timely recognized and tackled.
This is based on the notion that majority of Australian jurisdictions have already incorporated

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detailed arrangements within the state system that fosters joint investigations to be carried out by
both the child protection workers as well as by the specialist child abuse police.
The Commission revealed that a gap between the intricacy of the task and the skills as
well as the resources of the agencies that are required to deal with the issues related to child harm
or abuse has been filled with numerous procedures and policies that have been developed to
ensure certainty to the effort. The Australian jurisdictions have various approaches that are
appropriate for developing effective cross-agency responses (Wright Swain and McPhillips
2017). There is a growing need for conducting research and evaluating the rapidly changing
arrangements, given the interconnected and intricate consequences that are related to
safeguarding children against any harm, neglect, or abuse.
Options
After proper evaluation of the existing policies, it can be rightly mentioned that the
Commission could not efficiently address the underlying issues in relation to child abuse. In this
regard, it is worthwhile to refer here that, various options are available on the part of the
Commission for addressing the shortcoming faced by it.
1. It is important on the part of the commission to initiate the establishment of the human
resource unit having expertise in the relevant field for developing and implementing
strategic workforce plans (AM Commissioner 2016). In such process, the protection of
child will be ensured to the greatest possible ways.
2. In order to ensure protection of child, it is essential to employ qualified practitioners who
are associated with the well being of child (AM Commissioner 2016). In such process,

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emphasis has to be laid upon on the affected areas by working closely with the families in
need (Salveron et al, 2015).
3. The most important option available is regarding the implementation of a simple
structural assessment framework for ensuring the government and the existing non-profit
organizations in South Australia to look into the matter of child-abuse in depth (Churchill
and Fawcett 2016).
4. The other option available to the Commission is concerned with providing active support
and training to the practitioners and the staffs of the agency. This is necessary because as
a result of such supervision, the practitioners would be able to involve in more realistic
assessments in areas involving chronic maltreatment, social isolation and abuse related to
drug and alcohol (AM Commissioner 2016).
5. It is worth mentioning that, an option is available for addressing the existing subjective
issues which are concerned with the personality of the decision making bodies,
relationship with such decision makers and the influence of such decision (Marsh et al,
2015).
6. It is important to maintain codes of ethical standards against the oppression faced by the
children of the vulnerable families (Fraser et al, 2014). In this regard, it is noteworthy to
mention here that, the national policy making bodies of South Australia closely in
association with the protection of child in institutions like school and health institutions
must work according to the codes of ethical standards, professional ethics and the
organizational norms (AM Commissioner 2016). In this regard, it is worthwhile to refer
here that, the process of decision making in relation to the protection of child shall be
reasonably protected to the highest possible degree.

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7. It is important to engage different advocates who are engaged with the protection of child
from both domestic and social abuse (AM Commissioner 2016). However, it is important
on the part of the policy to introduce certain measures, so that the advocates could act
according to the instructions provided by the child.
8. It is essential for the policy makers to supplement the instructions in accordance to the
protection of the best interests of the child however; keeping in mind the extent to which
the child may not be willing to provide relevant information (AM Commissioner 2016).
9. The other options available may be dependent upon the decision of the Court to appoint a
representative for the child in distress in case of emergencies.
Recommendations
Various recommendations can be provided to the government in order to improve the
policies implemented by the Commission in relation to the protection of the child from abuse.
These recommendations can be emphasized as-
I. Establishing an efficient protocol for the purpose of governing the eligibility in relation to
the grant of legal aid (AM Commissioner 2016). In such process, the decision should be
made in accordance to the best interest of the child and most of the proceedings should be
conducted in Family Courts rather than Youth Courts.
II. It is essential to promote and commission extensive research on the subject matter of
child abuse and negligence. In this way, attitudes about the reduction of child abuse must
be encouraged on highest priority (AM Commissioner 2016). However, it is essentially
important to initiate the promotion of non-violent and non-abusive child rearing practices
in the domestic structure and within the community as well (Churchill and Fawcett 2016).

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This is due to the reason that, with proper identification of strategies appropriate solution
could be provided in order to enhance the prevention of child abuse.
III. It is recommended to implement policies in regard to primary and secondary prevention
of child abuse. It is worthwhile to mention here that, the programs of primary prevention
have been implemented by targeting the community as a whole. The nature of the
program is such that, it will address the issue at the early stage before it starts. In this
regard, mention can be made of the programs in concern with secondary prevention
which would prove to be beneficial in addressing the risk targeted to a specific
population. However, the nature of the program is such that, it would be favorable in
addressing the specific issue faced by the child of a particular community.
IV. It is important on the part of the government to implement programs in relation to tertiary
prevention which would prove to be beneficial in addressing the issues faced by the
children which has been abused. In this regard, proper intervention needs to be initiated
along with an objective of prevention of recurrence.
V. Lastly, it can be recommended that the appointment of a Chief Executive needs to be
initiated who possesses strong and efficient leadership skills as well as expertise and
recognized creditability in case of protection of child from various kinds of abuse both at
workplace and household. In this context, it is important to develop ministerial
responsibilities as well. However, implementation of structural framework in relation to
the protection of child abuse should be promoted to the great extent possible. In spite of
all these, stakeholders and practitioners must work in active collaboration and
cooperation with each other by increasing transparency.

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Bibliography
AM Commissioner, T. (2016). CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEMS ROYAL COMMISSION
REPORT. [online] Available at:
https://www.agd.sa.gov.au/sites/g/files/net2876/f/preface_summary_and_recommendations
[Accessed 4 Jun. 2018].
Bailey, C., Powell, M. and Brubacher, S.P., 2017. The attrition of indigenous and non-
indigenous child sexual abuse cases in two Australian jurisdictions. Psychology, public policy,
and law, 23(2), p.178.
Churchill, H. and Fawcett, B., 2016. Refocusing on early intervention and family support: A
review of child welfare reforms in New South Wales, Australia. Social Policy and Society, 15(2),
pp.303-316.
Fraser, J., Sidebotham, P., Frederick, J., Covington, T. and Mitchell, E.A., 2014. Learning from
child death review in the USA, England, Australia, and New Zealand. The Lancet, 384(9946),
pp.894-903.
Herbert, J.L. and Bromfield, L., 2017. Better together? A review of evidence for multi-
disciplinary teams responding to physical and sexual child abuse. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse,
p.1524838017697268.
Marsh, C.A., Browne, J., Taylor, J. and Davis, D., 2015. Guilty until proven innocent?–The
Assumption of Care of a baby at birth. Women and Birth, 28(1), pp.65-70.
Moore, T., McArthur, M., Noble-Carr, D. and Harcourt, D., 2015. Taking us seriously: children
and young people talk about safety and institutional responses to their safety concerns.

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Nyland, M., 2016. The Life they deserve: Child Protection Systems Royal Commission Report.
Government of South Australia.
Salveron, M., Bromfield, L., Kirika, C., Simmons, J., Murphy, T. and Turnell, A., 2015.
‘Changing the way we do child protection’: The implementation of Signs of Safety® within the
Western Australia Department for Child Protection and Family Support. Children and youth
services review, 48, pp.126-139.
Trocme, N., Akesson, B. and Jud, A., 2016. Responding to child maltreatment: a framework for
mapping child protection agencies. Child indicators research, 9(4), pp.1029-1041.
Wright, K., Swain, S. and McPhillips, K., 2017. The Australian Royal Commission into
Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Child abuse & neglect, 74, pp.1-9.