As the Chief Executive, I am pleased to present the annual report for the South Australian Department for Child Protection (DCP) for the year 2024-25.

This past year has been one of significant reform, collaboration, and progress for the department. Working closely with our partners across the child protection and family support sector, we have advanced system-wide reforms to improve outcomes for children, young people, families and carers in South Australia.

A key milestone was the passing of the Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Act 2025.

This landmark legislation lays the foundation for transformative change across the sector. Informed by extensive consultation, this bold legislation embeds cultural authority, mandates active efforts to uphold the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle and importantly, supports a transition toward an Aboriginal-led system for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. It also sets a new legal foundation for early support, child and family wellbeing initiatives, and shared accountability.

We look forward to working closely with key partners to ensure the implementation and operationalisation of these reforms is seamless, and the inaugural State Strategy for the Safety and Support of Children and Young People, set out under the new legislation, is brought to life with established and shared responsibilities across the sector. Underpinning this will be a collective commitment to generate improved outcomes for children and young people.

Family Group Conferencing continues to go from strength to strength, proving highly successful in achieving positive family-led outcomes for children and young people at risk. During 2024-25, 320 Family Group Conferences were held in SA, involving more than 540 children and young people. About 270 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children participated in these conferences.

Almost 90 per cent of all children who participated in Family Group Conferences remained in the care of their families. On the back of this success, the state’s Family Group Conference program will be expanded and supported by a $13.4 million investment over five years.

This year, we proudly supported the establishment of Wakwakurna Kanyini as the peak body for Aboriginal children and families. We recognise Wakwakurna Kanyini as an integral partner in progressing actions under our Closing the Gap commitment and ensuring that Aboriginal-led decision making underpins necessary transformation in the sector.

In 2024, we also launched the powerful ‘Foster the Feeling’ campaign, inviting the broader community to consider foster care opportunities, and generating more than 370 enquiries from prospective carers. As part of our efforts to recognise and retain our existing valued family-based carers, we refreshed and co-signed a new Statement of Commitment to foster and kinship carers. We also created Carers Voice on the department’s website, which has become a central hub for consultation opportunities for carers, helping to garner their valuable feedback on a range of topics and share the outcomes of past consultations.

One important topic that was consulted on during 2024-25 was the design of the Quality of Care Response Model which will replace the current Care Concern Management Model, with changes proposed to strengthen objectivity, improve communication and create a new review mechanism of substantiation outcomes.

Further highlights include:

Progressed the Aboriginal Community Controlled Procurement and Investment Strategy

Co-created with the South Australian Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation Network (SAACCON), this strategy aims to recognise that genuine investment and partnership with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations is key to enabling Aboriginal-led decision making and culturally appropriate service delivery.

Launched eCARL - the new online reporting system

System improvements were made to enhance the user experience and strengthen data security of mandated notifiers reporting online. This is part of the department’s ongoing efforts to ensure vital information provided by mandatory notifiers is effectively recorded and assessed for response.

Hosted the second Child Protection and Family Support Symposium

In November, more than 480 participants from across the sector again came together to discuss common challenges and consider how we can work together to create meaningful change for children, young people and families.

Released the first Workforce Strategy for the Child Protection and Family Support Sector

This strategy provides a first-of-its-kind framework to attract and retain a skilled and sustainable workforce across the child protection and family support sector. Looking ahead to 2025–26, we remain focused on delivering meaningful reform. Some of our key priorities include:

• Preparing for commencement of the Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Act 2025, with engagement and collaboration across the sector to inform the implementation of policy and practice.
• Developing South Australia’s first Aboriginal Action Plan under the Closing the Gap framework, in partnership with SAACCON and Wakwakurna Kanyini, as part of steps to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal children in care.
• Creating Statements of Commitment for children and young people, and birth families to acknowledge their voices and experiences throughout our work.
• Expanding our efforts to ensure the voices of children and young people with a care experience are informing both decision making about their own lives, as well as policy, projects, programs and services intended to support them.
• Implementing a Model of Care for Unborn Children and Infants, ensuring trauma-informed, culturally responsive support for families.
• Advancing our internal DCP Workforce Strategy, including targeted recruitment, graduate pathways and inclusive employment initiatives.

We recognise how important it is for children, young people and birth families to have opportunities to use their lived experience to shape and create these initiatives and our practice going forward. We will continue to seek this input and engage with our lived experience groups to ensure the things that are important to them are reflected in the services children and young people receive.

The achievements and future activities shared in this Annual Report reflect our unwavering commitment to protecting children, empowering families, and building a system that is inclusive, responsive, and grounded in community. I extend my sincere thanks to our staff, carers, partners, and communities for their dedication and collaboration.

Together, we are shaping a child protection and family support system that places children and young people at its heart. I look forward to the significant strides we can make over the next 12 months.

Jackie Bray
Chief Executive

Performance at a glance

The DCP Strategic Plan 2022-2026 sets out seven key departmental priorities to deliver on its vision for all children and young people to grow up safe, healthy, connected and feeling loved so they reach their full potential:

• Leaders in practice excellence
• Closing the gap
• A child protection and family support system that meets the needs of children and young people
• A thriving workforce
• Active and collaborative partnerships
• Working alongside carers
• Quality services and safeguarding.

This year, significant work has been undertaken to position the department to navigate current and future challenges, identify opportunities to improve outcomes for children and young people and build a connected child protection and family support system for the future.

The department’s efforts are further strengthened by the passage of the Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Act 2025, which represents a foundation and framework to progress transformational and sustainable change across the child protection and family support system, to help improve the lives of children, young people and their families.

DCP has reviewed and refreshed its executive structure to ensure designated and clearly defined leadership to drive priority objectives and reform activities across the department and whole of government. A dedicated Aboriginal Policy and Services Directorate has been created to strengthen the operational and strategic cultural advice informing policy and practice development. This will ensure the department is best placed to address the significant over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in care with a strong emphasis on improving outcomes for children and young people, in line with our commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and Safe and Supported: the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2021-2031.

• The department has continued to work collaboratively in partnership with DCP staff, carers, government and non-government organisations, and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people in care. Across 2024-25, DCP has continued to improve its performance in a range of areas, including: * Continuing to slow the growth of children and young people in care to the lowest rate in over a decade (0.2%).
• Increasing the number of Family Group Conferences held to 320, involving 546 children and young people, of which 89.5% were in the care of their families after the Family Group Conference.
• Approving 318 new family-based carers.
• Supporting 100 children to be diverted from entering residential care, or transition out of residential care, through the Finding Families initiative.
• Supporting over 70 carers with the Additionally Approved Care Program, providing over 5,600 nights of care, including respite care.
• Increasing the percentage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in care in a family-based care setting. * Reducing family-based care breakdowns by more than 20%.
• Achieving Sanctuary Model Certification, marking a significant milestone in the department’s trauma-informed care journey – with 91% of staff across Residential Care having completed Sanctuary training, supporting staff to deliver consistent care that is therapeutic, culturally appropriate and responsive to the complex needs of children and young people who have experienced trauma.
• Delivering 87 face-to-face learning and development sessions to almost 400 kinship carers supported by the DCP Kinship Care Program, and releasing new online training resources for all carers to support children displaying harmful sexual behaviours.
• Establishing the Ministerial Youth Advisory Council to provide direct advice and lived experience guidance to the Minister for Child Protection and the broader child protection and family support system.

Agency specific objectives and performance

Corporate performance summary

During 2024-25, DCP continued to progress and deliver on key corporate initiatives, including having:

• Increased the Child and Youth Workers workforce FTE by 6.68%.
• Established new leadership for key departmental functions, including a Chief Practitioner, a Director, Learning, Excellence and Innovation Academy and a Director for Commissioning, Procurement and Contracts.
• Introduced an Aboriginal Policy and Services Directorate, led by an Executive Director, to increase the agency’s ability to provide high-level cultural advice both operationally and strategically and contribute to policy and practice developments to address the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in the child protection and family support system.
• Created the Director, Carer Services role whose focus is on supporting and valuing carers, recruitment and retention, building support, strengthening partnerships, and advocating for practical, responsive changes.
• Provided input to the Social Workers Registration Scheme as the Board designed key scheme elements.
• Secured $14.9 million from the state’s Digital Investment Fund for the KidSafe Connect Program to progress comprehensive digital transformation to modernise the child protection and family support system, focusing on efficiency, responsiveness, and technology upgrades, including replacing DCP’s client management system C3MS.
• Relocated DCP staff from Netley Commercial Park to the new facility at Keswick, as well as relocating DCP staff from the Disability and Development Program at 31 Flinders Street to Keswick.
• Progressed development of a DCP Strategic Research and Evaluation Agenda to identify priority research activities and focus efforts for impactful outcomes.
• Invested 9.4% of procurement expenditure in ACCOs*.
• Launched the DCP Service Hub, as a self-service portal allowing departmental staff to connect easily with DCP ICT Services and staff.

* _{An error was identified within the 2023-24 DCP Annual Report. Increased procurement from ACCOs was reported as 10.23%. This figure should have been reported as 9.4%}.

Employment opportunity programs

Agency performance management and development systems

Work health, safety and return to work programs

_{*number of claimants assessed during the reporting period as having a whole person impairment meeting the relevant threshold under the Return to Work Act 2014 (Part 2 Division 5)}

_{**Under s.38 of the Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act 2012, reporting notifiable incidents, such as serious injuries, dangerous occurrences, or fatalities is a legal requirement. An increase in notifiable incident reports reflects a proactive safety culture where transparency and early intervention are valued, enabling our department to strengthen WHS risk management, and ultimately protect workers more effectively.}

_{***before third party recovery}

Data for previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/workhealth-
safety-and-return-to-work-performance-for-dcp

Executive employment in the agency

The Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment has a workforce information page that provides further information on the breakdown of executive gender, salary and tenure by agency.

Financial performance at a glance

The following is a brief summary of the overall financial position of the agency. The information is unaudited. Full audited financial statements for 2024-2025 are attached to this report.

Consultants disclosure

The following is a summary of external consultants that have been engaged by the agency, the nature of work undertaken, and the actual payments made for the work undertaken during the financial year.

Consultancies with a contract value below $10,000 each

Data for previous years is available at:
https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/consultants-utilised-in-department-for-childprotection(external site)
See also the Consolidated Financial Report of the Department of Treasury and Finance (external site)(PDF)for total value of consultancy contracts across the South Australian Public
Sector.

Contractors disclosure

The following is a summary of external contractors that have been engaged by the agency, the nature of work undertaken, and the actual payments made for work undertaken during the financial year.

Contractors with a contract value below $10,000

Contractors with a contract value above $10,000 each

Data for previous years is available at:
https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/contractors-utilised-by-dcp
The details of South Australian Government-awarded contracts for goods, services, and works are displayed on the SA Tenders and Contracts website. View the agency list of contracts(external site).
The website also provides details of across government contracts.

Risk and audit at a glance

DCP maintains a robust risk and internal control environment supported by an effective Internal Audit and Risk function, Performance and Risk Committee (PRC) and associated internal audit and risk management frameworks. The department has an approved rolling three-year Internal Audit Plan that is reviewed annually and updated to reflect current risks and departmental priorities. Progress against the 2024-25 plan was monitored and reported to the Senior Executive Group (SEG) and PRC on a regular basis and the status and progress of actions arising from internal audit, Auditor-General and Control Self-Assessment reviews are monitored and reported on a quarterly basis.

Based on the internal audit work undertaken in 2024-25, together with the results of the quarterly monitoring and follow up of Control Self-Assessment action plans, previous audit actions and strategic and operational risk treatment plans, the overall internal audit opinion for 2024-25 did not identify any significant issues, concerns or risks that indicated the overall risk and control environment was not effective. Procurement and Contract Management risks remain a high priority for the department.

In line with the Risk Assessment Framework and reporting timelines for SEG and PRC, strategic and operational risk registers are formally reviewed on a six-monthly basis. To support this process, Internal Audit and Risk facilitated risk workshops and held discussions with all business units to update risk assessments, controls and treatment plans. All strategic, operational and fraud risks are recorded and monitored using the Ventriv Risk system to improve the efficiency and usefulness of risk monitoring, review and reporting.

PRC met quarterly through 2024-25 with an additional meeting in August 2024 to consider the 2023-24 draft financial statements. The membership of PRC underwent a refresh in 2024-25, with three of the four existing external members retiring from the Committee at the end of their terms. Following a comprehensive recruitment process, three new external members were appointed for three-year terms beginning in January 2025. Following an extensive induction day held in April 2025, the new Committee had its first meeting on 16 April 2025 and then met again on 3 June 2025. PRC provide an annual report to the Chief Executive outlining any matters for consideration. For 2024-25, the key ongoing areas of risk as highlighted by the Committee were the:

• Need for continued focus on, and progress tracking against, high priority internal audit and Auditor-General action items.
• Tight fiscal environment, budgetary pressures and the case mix (particularly out of home care).
• Difficulty across government in identifying and addressing the underlying issues contributing to the high number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in care.
• Need for management to continually review existing and emerging risks in the context of the child protection environment and the department’s risk appetite.

As per usual practice, items of concern, risks, and significant issues that the Committee felt warranted attention were raised and discussed throughout the year during PRC meetings as part of the normal course of business.

Fraud detected in the agency

There has been just one new fraud incident to declare for 2024-25 and no non-legislative compliance to declare.

_{NB: Fraud reported includes actual and reasonably suspected incidents of fraud.}

Data for previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/frauddetected-in-the-department-for-child-protection

Strategies implemented to control and prevent fraud

DCP is committed to the prevention, detection and control of fraud, corruption and other criminal conduct, misconduct and maladministration in connection with the activities of the department. Fraud risks are identified as part of the department’s risk management activities and are captured in a Fraud Risk Register.

The DCP Fraud and Corruption Control Framework, adopted from the South Australian Public Sector Fraud and Corruption Control policy, aligns with Australian Standard – AS 8001:2021 Fraud and Corruption Control. It is designed to assist in the prevention, detection and response to activities labelled or defined as fraud.

DCP undertakes a range of corporate and operational activities to prevent and detect fraud in accordance with the Framework, including regular review of financial management policies and procedures, a comprehensive internal audit program, undertaking strategic and operational risk assessments, and raising the general awareness of fraud amongst staff.

The DCP Internal Audit and Risk team carried out operational risk assessments across key areas of the business, with regular reviews of fraud risks pertinent to specific business functions. Operational risk registers were continually assessed and updated, in line with the Risk Assessment Matrix. Fraud risks continued to be captured through operational risk workshops and through the Fraud Risk Register.

DCP addresses any suspected, alleged or proven instances of fraud, corruption or other criminal conduct, misconduct or maladministration by employees or other public officers, including through:

• Investigation by appropriately skilled and experienced personnel who are independent of the business unit in which the alleged conduct occurred.
• Reporting to the Office for Public Integrity or Ombudsman SA.
• Involvement of other authorities such as South Australia Police.
• Compliance with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2018, articulated through the DCP Public Interest Disclosure Procedure.

Public interest disclosure

Number of occasions on which public interest information has been disclosed to a responsible officer of the agency under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2018:

0

Data for previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/publicinterest-(external site)disclosures-for-the-department-for-child-protection
_{Note: Disclosure of public interest information was previously reported under the Whistleblowers Protection Act 1993 and repealed by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2018 on 1/7/2019.}

DCP’s capacity to report on section 156(1)(a)(ii) and (iii) is in development. As at 30 June 2025:

• The rate of case plan completion for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in care is 90.9%.
• 90.8% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in care have a current and approved Aboriginal Cultural Identity Support Tool.

• As at 30 June 2025, all children and young people in care were allocated to a Primary Assigned Case Worker.
• DCP has reviewed the Data & Analytics Hub report with the intention to better support service provision through access to enhanced data analysis and operational reporting, including monitoring how many children and young people have had face-to-face contact with their allocated worker. Enhanced recording in C3MS of face-to-face contact was implemented in March 2025 and it is expected data will be available for the next Annual Report.
• As at 30 June 2025, 92.2% of children and young people had a current and approved case plan.
• In the period 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, a further 1 recommendation of the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission was completed. As at 30 June 2025 of the 260 recommendations, 251 recommendations were completed and 5 recommendations were yet to be completed (noting 4 recommendations were not accepted).
• While 2023-24 marked the final stand-alone report outlining the state government’s progress implementing the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission recommendations, DCP will continue its commitment to coordinate agency updates on progress implementing outstanding recommendations to meet the reporting requirements of section 156(1)(e).
• An overview of recommendations is available on the DCP website via the following link: https://www.childprotection.sa.gov.au/research-andpublications/publications/child-protection-systems-royal-commission

This annual report details the role of the Minister and the extent to which the Minister has performed the Minister’s functions for the 2024-25 financial year. In addition, to help ensure outcomes for children and young people are at the centre of our efforts, the Minister has:

• Set a foundation for significant, transformational reform through passage of the Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Act 2025 following consultation and ongoing conversations with children, families, carers, DCP staff, key stakeholders and communities.
• Consulted on, delivered and signed a new Statement of Commitment to South Australian foster and kinship carers - a joint promise by DCP and partner agencies to work alongside carers to ensure they receive the support they need.
• Established the Ministerial Youth Advisory Council as a mechanism for children and young people with an out of home care experience to influence system reform, provide direct advice and lived-experience guidance to the Minister for Child Protection, ensure the diverse views of children and young people are heard, and that their feedback is acted on by decision makers.
• Continued to engage with, embrace and be informed by governance structures that inform child protection and family support reform:
  • Consulted with members of the Carer Council.
  • Consulted with members of the Direct Experience Group.
  • Referred matters for advice to the Child Protection Expert Group.
  • Chaired the Chief Executive Governance Group, which drives child protection and family support system reform across government.
• Worked together with the child protection and family support sector to achieve better outcomes for children, young people and families:
  • Convened the second Child Protection and Family Support Symposium.
  • Released the Workforce Strategy for the Child Protection and Family Support Sector, the first of its kind in South Australia.

The following information summarises the delivery of programs/services that relate to the provision of family support services and intensive services to children and young people who are at risk and their families.

The Report on Government Services (ROGS) details this information. It is published in January each year and is available from https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services

_{Figures may be different from those nationally reported, due to timing and the reconciliation process.}

Number of public complaints reported

Data for previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/publiccomplaints-
received-by-dcp-complaints-unit

Service Improvements

Compliance Statement