It’s Time for Criminal Charges

It’s Time for Criminal Charges and Independent Audit After SA Child Protection ‘Informally’ Removes Children Without Court Orders

by Matilda Bawden

I TOLD YOU SO!!!!

I warned about three years ago that the Department for Child Procurement (aherm, “Protection”) is removing kids from good and loving, even if not perfect and often struggling, parents without court orders, consent, reunification or so much as a Safety Plan.

And no, it’s not only three children, as the current Ombudsman, Ms Emily Strickland would have you believe. That is just the three children the SA Ombudsman actually bothered to investigate and finally hit the mainstream media headlines.

The Office, under her predecessor, refused to investigate one I sent them three years ago. In that case there was no imminent risk, no substance abuse, no violence, no neglect and no abuse when the kids were kidnapped by the State. How many other complaints have been quietly swept under the rug or brushed aside as “out of scope” while families are torn apart without a shred of legal authority?

Now it is time for immediate criminal investigations of Ms Jackie Bray and former Minister Katrine Hildyard, ministerial intervention, and an exhaustive independent audit, especially of the conduct of the Complaints and Feedback Management Unit of DCP under Ms C Di Carlo, following findings by South Australian Ombudsman Emily Strickland that the Department for Child Protection (DCP) unlawfully “informally” removed children from their mothers without statutory authority.

The Ombudsman’s investigation into three separate complaints confirmed that departmental officers bypassed statutory thresholds under the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017 (SA). Children were removed and placed into third-party care despite explicit, continuous objections from their mothers – without applications to the Youth Court, without emergency removal orders, and without signed voluntary safety agreements.

A Systemic Pattern, Not “Administrative Error”

While the Ombudsman categorised the practice as an “administrative error,” I say that labelling the unauthorised seizure of children a mere, minor and trivial bureaucratic “mistake” sanitises systemic misfeasance and abuse of public office; giving all the wrongdoers a “get out of jail free” card, while the lives of families and children are destroyed. Meanwhile, I have had my Working With Children Check removed, and been threatened with $10,000 fines and 2yrs jail by State corruptocrats for far, far less!

If a private citizen takes a child from a mother against her express wishes without a court order or legal authority, it is investigated as child abduction under the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935. When state officers do it under the colour of official duty, the department dismisses it as a ‘documentation failure.’

Bypassing statutory law to separate families is not an “error” – it is a crime. It is negligence, misfeasance, and corruption.

Systemic abuse and corruption is not just an “error”. An “error” is picked up by supervisors, team leaders, Senior Practitioners, and Regional Managers and is then corrected. Ignoring the parents’ complaints is not an “error” by the time it hits the Ombudsman’s desk. It is proof positive of endemic systems abuse and corruption!

Ignoring or overriding Best Practice policies and procedures and the Public Sector Codes of Ethics, Codes of Conduct, and Values is not supposed to be “optional” if we believe in genuine government transparency, accountability, trauma-informed, evidence-based, child-centred practice.

The three cases investigated by Ombudsman SA represent only the tip of the iceberg. It’s been happening for many years!

The Ombudsman’s office has previously declined to investigate countless cases or deemed them “out of scope.”

The “Script of Impunity”

I have been showing people the DCP cookie-cutter template for removing children.

The system has perfected this down to 36 days, last I checked…

The findings highlight an ongoing cycle of non-accountability within South Australia’s child protection architecture:

1. Unlawful Action: Departmental officers bypass Youth Court processes and statutory protections.
2. Ignored Grievances: Parental complaints to internal review mechanisms and the Child and Family Support System (CFSS) are routinely dismissed, delayed, or brushed aside.
3. Belated Findings: Years later, oversight bodies confirm improper conduct after irreversible developmental and psychological harm has already occurred.
4. Paper Solutions: The Department “welcomes the report,” issues internal practice updates, and promises staff retraining while writing it off as an operational error.
5. Zero Consequences: No individual officers lose their employment, face disciplinary proceedings, or face consequences regarding their suitability to work with children.

Advocates are calling on the South Australian Government, Attorney-General, and Minister for Child Protection to immediately enact the following measures:

1. Independent Judicial Audit: An immediate, wide-ranging audit of all “informal” care arrangements and safety plans enacted by the Department for Child Protection over the last five years to identify every child removed without a court order or valid consent.
2. Individual Accountability: Referrals to South Australia Police (SAPOL) and the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) to investigate potential misfeasance in public office and criminal breaches where state officers knowingly exceeded statutory authority.
3. Professional Standards Review: Mandatory review of the professional registrations and Working With Children Checks of all caseworkers and administrators who participated in or authorised unlawful removals.
4. Oversight Reform: Re-opening of all previously dismissed or uninvestigated complaints submitted to oversight bodies regarding unauthorised removals.