Last Saturday, the Office of the Guardian’s beloved safety symbols – OoG and Nunga OoG – walked, danced, and hopped the 3.5km pageant track that led Father Christmas to Adelaide’s Town Hall, and marked the official welcoming of the ‘big guy in red’ to Australia.
This year’s pageant was a special milestone for the Office, celebrating Nunga OoG’s very first appearance.
On 1 August 2022, Shona Reid commenced her roles as the Guardian for Children and Young People, Child and Young Person’s Visitor, Training Centre Visitor and Youth Treatment Order Visitor.
With the first anniversary of her commencement just past, we sat down with Shona and asked her to share her reflections on the past year.
Often, we hear about children and young people in kinship or foster care living with families – and, in fact, this is the most common type of out-of-home care arrangement here in South Australian and nationally. However, there are over 700 children and young people in South Australia who are not living with families, but instead living in what are technically known as “Residential Care Facilities”.
Our office knows that children and young people in residential houses can face particular issues and vulnerabilities. This is why we operate a “Child and Young Person’s Visitor’ Program”.
Last month, the Guardian for Children and Young People, Shona Reid, published a new report about child protection expenditure in South Australia. The report takes an in-depth look at not only where money is being spent, but what this means for the lives and wellbeing of children and young people.
In recent weeks, the Guardian for Children and Young People, Shona Reid has been travelling regionally to connect with children and young people in care, carers, and service providers across the north of South Australia.
Guardian Shona Reid has just kicked off her regional visits, touching down in Ceduna yesterday afternoon.
We are pleased to welcome three new advocates to our team. The new team members come from varied backgrounds, and we know that their extensive and diverse experience will be of great benefit to our office and to the children and young people who call us in need of support and advocacy.
This is a story of how our vulnerable young people caught up in child protection and youth justice systems need our love, care and support. They need to be listened to, have a say in decisions that affect them and know that we believe in them.
Findings from a landmark study into the maltreatment of children could help transform how we understand child maltreatment and the services that are needed to prevent abuse from happening in the first place.
A report into the scheduled review of South Australia’s Children and Young People (Safety) Act has just been released by the State Government.
We acknowledge and respect Aboriginal People as the traditional owners
and custodians of the land we live and work on, their living culture and their unique role in the life of South Australia.