Draft Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Bill 2024

Consultation has concluded

We are seeking your views on the Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Bill 2024.

What's being decided?

The Department for Child Protection is seeking your feedback on new draft child protection legislation.

The Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Bill 2024 will provide the foundation and framework for delivering transformational change across the child protection and family support sector.

The draft Bill seeks to:

  • Strengthen existing frameworks.
  • Add new and dedicated provisions for Aboriginal children and young people, including embedding all elements of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principles.
  • Enable delegation of legislative authority to recognised Aboriginal entities.
  • Introduce child's best interests as a guiding principle in decision making.
  • Develop a State strategy to support all agencies recognising their role in protecting children and families.
  • Strengthen carer participation and support.
  • Permit payments to approved carers up to the age of 25 years.

Background

Following a review and state-wide consultation of the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017, where more than 900 people provided feedback, a new draft Bill has been developed which seeks to broadly incorporate community input to improve child protection legislation in South Australia.

The comprehensive review process comprised in-person forums, online surveys, written submissions and targeted discussions with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people across metropolitan and regional South Australia. The government also considered more than 102 survey responses and 83 formal submissions as part its review.

There was community consensus that “support” needed to be fundamentally reflected in any new legislative framework to reinforce the importance of keeping families safely together.

The new draft Bill seeks to strike a balance between feedback received, recommendations outlined in recent and existing reviews and inquiries, alongside the government’s commitment to deliver fundamental reforms critical to keeping children and young people safe and supported.

The draft Bill also seeks to reconcile and embed, in some instances, the broad policy settings and directions which generated majority support in the consultation phase.

Whilst the new draft Bill reflects some significant reform, it has also retained elements of the current Act we understand are working well.

The community will be able to provide feedback on the draft Bill over the next 4 weeks.

Get involved

Find out more:

Have your say by:

What are the next steps?

All feedback will be considered in the finalisation of the draft Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Bill 2024.

The draft Bill is expected to be introduced to Parliament at the end of 2024 and will be published here.

We are seeking your views on the Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Bill 2024.

What's being decided?

The Department for Child Protection is seeking your feedback on new draft child protection legislation.

The Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Bill 2024 will provide the foundation and framework for delivering transformational change across the child protection and family support sector.

The draft Bill seeks to:

  • Strengthen existing frameworks.
  • Add new and dedicated provisions for Aboriginal children and young people, including embedding all elements of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principles.
  • Enable delegation of legislative authority to recognised Aboriginal entities.
  • Introduce child's best interests as a guiding principle in decision making.
  • Develop a State strategy to support all agencies recognising their role in protecting children and families.
  • Strengthen carer participation and support.
  • Permit payments to approved carers up to the age of 25 years.

Background

Following a review and state-wide consultation of the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017, where more than 900 people provided feedback, a new draft Bill has been developed which seeks to broadly incorporate community input to improve child protection legislation in South Australia.

The comprehensive review process comprised in-person forums, online surveys, written submissions and targeted discussions with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people across metropolitan and regional South Australia. The government also considered more than 102 survey responses and 83 formal submissions as part its review.

There was community consensus that “support” needed to be fundamentally reflected in any new legislative framework to reinforce the importance of keeping families safely together.

The new draft Bill seeks to strike a balance between feedback received, recommendations outlined in recent and existing reviews and inquiries, alongside the government’s commitment to deliver fundamental reforms critical to keeping children and young people safe and supported.

The draft Bill also seeks to reconcile and embed, in some instances, the broad policy settings and directions which generated majority support in the consultation phase.

Whilst the new draft Bill reflects some significant reform, it has also retained elements of the current Act we understand are working well.

The community will be able to provide feedback on the draft Bill over the next 4 weeks.

Get involved

Find out more:

Have your say by:

What are the next steps?

All feedback will be considered in the finalisation of the draft Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Bill 2024.

The draft Bill is expected to be introduced to Parliament at the end of 2024 and will be published here.