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.
Incarcerated children are being denied access to education, phone calls to lawyers and medical treatment due to “inadequate” staffing and resourcing at South Australia’s youth prison, the state’s youth justice watchdog has revealed in an explosive new report.
South Australia is failing young people in care by not ensuring more participate in the NAPLAN, the state’s Guardian for Children says, following the release of data showing only half of Year 9 students under the guardianship last year sat the national test.