Child protection advocate hopes new department chief will be found within SA

A child protection advocate is calling for a South Australian to lead the state’s child protection department, as the global search for a new chief executive begins.

The current head, Cathy Taylor, announced on Friday that she would leave the chief executive role in April.

Belinda Valentine has advocated for improvements to the state’s child protection department since her four-year-old granddaughter Chloe died 11 years ago.

The coroner found Chloe was failed by South Australia’s child welfare agency.

Ms Valentine believes there is still much work to do in child protection, but the resignation of Ms Taylor could help renew the agency.

“I think there was a collective sigh of relief because it opens the door to different thinking coming in,” she said.

Ms Taylor’s resignation came at a time of increased pressure on the department, after the deaths of two children in separate incidents last year who were both known to DCP.

The government has said it will conduct a “global search” to find her replacement, but Ms Valentine hopes a successful applicant will be found within the state.

The last two chief executives were recruited from overseas and interstate.

“We have really passionate, qualified, connected people who understand our local communities, the local problems that are actually happening,” she said.

But Premier Peter Malinauskas said the “priority is getting the best possible person to do the job”, regardless of where they were found.

“The reality is child protection is an incredibly complex policy area with even more complex family circumstances contributing to that,” he said.

“And we want to make sure we’ve got the most elite, most qualified person to be able to deal with those challenges and take the opportunity to refresh the department with a different perspective.”

In her statement on Friday, Ms Taylor said leading the department had been “one of the most rewarding periods” of her career. 

“There needs to be a balance in celebrating the good work done by child protection staff as it can be incredibly difficult work,” she said. 

“I know the transition to a new CE [chief executive] will build on the strengths of the department and its workforce, and I know the workforce will continue to do everything they can to ensure children and young people are safe, supported and have opportunities to thrive.”

Deputy Premier Susan Close, who was SA’s child development minister from 2015 to 2018, said child protection was “one of the hardest places to work”.

“It isn’t an easy job anywhere and so we’ll really have to do a good search to find someone who has experience and energy to throw at this,” she said.

Ms Close thanked Ms Taylor for her work in an “incredibly emotionally challenging” area and said she has “worked very, very hard”.

“She’s done child protection work for a very long time … and I think she’s just probably reached the end of the time she can reach in this area of work, at least for now,” she said.