Boosting support for vulnerable families during pregnancy

The State Government has developed a suite of new initiatives to help keep babies safe and supported within their families.

This includes a new Prenatal Safety and Support Model (the model), created by the Department for Child Protection (DCP), to support pregnant women and their families with complex needs to address child protection concerns and develop a plan to help ensure their babies are born into a safe environment.

The model is expected to be finalised this year and is based on research identifying best practice in prenatal child protection and family support intervention. It supports DCP staff to work with families at the earliest opportunity during pregnancy, with the aim of safely keeping families together wherever possible.

The model promotes the importance of working in partnership with families to identify the supports they need, and to develop a plan to address any concerns which will ensure the safety of their baby once born. Interagency collaboration with government and non-government partners is a strong focus of the model.

DCP is also working in partnership with government and non-government agencies on initiatives to further support families to keep their babies safe including:

• Working with the Australian Centre for Child Protection to develop an interagency protocol for collaborative perinatal care.
• Expanding access to Family Group Conferences, delivered by Relationships Australia SA and Aboriginal Family Support Services, which support families to lead decision making and mobilise the strengths of their extended family for the safe care of their baby.
• Funding 17 specialist High Risk Infant Workers who work with families to identify support needs and develop plans for safe care of their baby once born.

Helping to keep babies safely with their families is a priority for DCP. The Department is committed to working with families to develop plans to prevent babies being removed at birth.

Since 2021-2022, there has been a 36 per cent reduction in removals of babies from their parents within 7 days of birth from 87 babies to 56 in 2024-25.

There has been a 21 per cent reduction in the removal of babies within 31 days of birth, down from 108 babies in 2021-2022 to 85 in 2024-25.

With a focus on the most effective intervention to support families to connect with services to address child protection concerns, implementation of the Prenatal Safety and Support Model will support the Department in its commitment to further reducing the number of babies entering care.

Quotes

Attributable to Katrine Hildyard

Supporting families so they can support themselves is one of the most practical and fundamental things we can do to keep families strong and reduce the number of children and babies going into care.

This collaborative new Prenatal Safety and Support Model will assist the Department for Child Protection in its work with families to help them keep their babies safely at home and reduce the number of babies going into care.

By working in close and effective partnership with families, we can address issues before they become entrenched, giving babies and their families the best chance to break cycles of poverty, neglect and abuse.

This collaborative model recognises the importance for children of connection to family, community and culture and the strengths within families. It focuses on harnessing those strengths to help safely keep families together and is a crucial step forward for families engaged with the child protection and family support system.

Attributable to Jackie Bray, Chief Executive, DCP

We know that infants have the best chance of positive outcomes when they are raised within their families, communities and cultures.
Pregnancy and early infancy represent a vital window of opportunity when expectant parents are more likely to engage with support services and address underlying risk factors.
This new Model prioritises infant safety and strives to prevent entry into care by supporting families to address child protection concerns and support family wellbeing.

It focuses on a whole-of-system response, built on strong, collaborative partnerships across the government and non-government sector and is one example of our commitment to connecting families with the support they need.