The Department of Child Protection in South Australia has been called to appoint a new minister. Source: Freepik.
Shona Reid, the Guardian for Children and Young People in South Australia, has expressed that she is not confident that the Department for Child Protection are paying enough attention to scared and vulnerable children.
In the previous two years, 49 people have been charged with sexual offences against children in state care in South Australia — with one of those being a staff member for the Department of Child Protection.
Reid expressed that “better integrated systems” are needed to ensure the protection of children in South Australia.
“There is a segment of our community that are very skilled at exploiting the vulnerability of children and young people in care and we need to better skill ourselves in being able to identify them,” Reid said.
There is now a petition to call for a standalone Child Protection Minister since Katrine Hildyard, the current minister, is also the Minister for Women and the Prevention of Violence, Recreation, Sport and Racing.
Meanwhile in England, the BBC have responded to questions regarding the ongoing employment of a staff member, who in 2023 was suspected of obtaining indecent images of children.
On 31 July 2024, Huw Edwards, the former presenter on BBC One’s News at Ten, pleaded guilty to being sent images of young children — seven of which were category A.
According to the Sentencing Council guidelines for England, category A images involve children being subjected to sexual penetration, sadism, and torture.
BBC has expressed that in November 2023 it was made aware “in confidence” that Edwards had been arrested on suspicion of serious offences. Edwards continued as the corporation’s third-highest paid reporter from April 2023 to March 2024.
Tim Davie, the BBC director general, has expressed that “when it comes to the decision we made in November, we were obviously faced with a difficult decision, and we considered it very carefully”.
The police informed the BBC that Edwards had been arrested. Davie said the police “wanted to be assured of total confidence … it’s a technical process to ensure employees are protected and there’s no risk”.
The children at harm in the images have remained anonymous.
It has been reported that children who experience sexual abuse often struggle with addiction, self-harm, the inability to form healthy relationships, and suicide.
