South Australian children in youth detention will likely be the first in the country to be forced against their will to receive treatment for drug dependency, despite the State Government conceding there is “limited evidence” that the controversial program will work.
Over 180 children in state care were victims or at risk of alleged sexual assault last year, the Guardian for Children has revealed, amid concerns there are “serious systemic gaps and failings” in the Child Protection Department’s detection of abuse.
South Australian primary school-aged children – some as young as 10-years-old – were incarcerated 133 times over the past year.
The Child Protection Department has stopped housing at-risk children in what advocates have described as the most unsafe and least therapeutic forms of care, but concerns remain about the welfare of children who might “languish” under the replacement system.