The Child Protection Systems Royal Commission was established in 2014 to investigate the child protection system in South Australia.
Royal Commissioner Margaret Nyland and her team looked at the laws, policies, practices and structures currently in place for children at risk of harm, abuse or neglect.
The royal commission:
- heard from 381 witnesses
- received 374 submissions
- examined 10,800 documents
- conducted 74 stakeholder engagements.
Terms of reference (PDF 164KB)
You can also read the report in sections.
Volume 1: summary and report
Preface, summary and recommendations (PDF 623KB)
Part I - Introduction (PDF 360KB)
Part II - Challenges (PDF 533KB)
Part III - Children at risk in the community (PDF 1.06 MB)
Part IV - Children in out of home care (PDF 1.64 MB)
Part V - Children with diverse needs (PDF 1.36 MB)
Part VI - System wide changes to improve safety (PDF 556KB)
Clarification
In Chapter 22: Promoting System Transparency in Part VI: System-Wide Changes to Improve Safety, the third sentence of the fourth paragraph under the heading ‘Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee’ on page 584 reads:
'Private members receive a retention allowance of approximately $5,600 per year and are paid sitting fees.'
The correct information is:
'Private members are offered sitting fees for attendance at committee meetings only. Some members opt to waive their entitlement to those fees. Government employees do not receive sitting fees as membership is considered part of their substantive employment. The Chair receives an annual retention allowance of $7200.'
Volume 2 - case studies

Report on Secure Care Models for Young People at Risk of Harm (PDF 331KB)
Report on Therapeutic Residential Care (PDF 422KB)
What makes a good childhood (PDF 672KB)
What Children Say About Child Protection and Out of Home Care (PDF 1.02 MB)
Staffing the Child Protection System - Education Professional Development and Regulation (PDF 246KB)
Government's response to the royal commission
The government responded to recommendations in:
- A Fresh Start report
- 2018 A Fresh Start progress report
Read the reports and related information on the Department for Child Protection’s website.