Mum who hadn't yet 'birthed her placenta' when authorities took her baby says she now has a 'fighting chance'
Krystal had several of her children removed by South Australia's Department for Child Protection before getting help from Relationships Australia SA. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
In short:
Family group conferencing helps parents and families make decisions about how best to raise a child at risk of being removed.
One mother has shared her story about how the process helped her keep her baby after previous, and harrowing, child removals.
What's next?
Proposed new legislation currently before SA Parliament would require child protection authorities to offer all First Nations families a group conference if it has concerns about a child's welfare.
It is like your heart has been ripped out of your body – or, at least, that is how Krystal* describes the feeling of having a newborn taken into state care.
Warning: This story contains content that some readers may find distressing.
The First Nations mother would know.
She says several of her children were removed by South Australia's Department for Child Protection (DCP), a government agency responsible for keeping kids safe from abuse and harm.
One time when Krystal gave birth, she says department workers knocked on the hospital delivery room door.
Krystal (not her real name) says she's finally been given a 'fighting chance' at being a mum.
"My placenta was still attached when DCP came in," she says.
"The midwives in there ushered DCP out and said: 'No, she hasn't even birthed her placenta out'."
The next time Krystal fell pregnant, she refused to go anywhere near a hospital.
In the months leading up to birth, she says she did not leave her house and avoided antenatal care.
"I had a breached labour at home unassisted," she says.
"I kept my baby there for three months and then the police kicked in the door and took my baby."
Krystal (not her real name) hopes to be reunited with her older children who were removed. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
Krystal says she was experiencing very difficult personal circumstances at the time.
"I ended up in a situation where I was homeless and in a DV relationship, really not looking after myself," she says.
But despite all that has happened to her, she never stopped wanting to be a mum.
'A space where healing can occur'
Krystal beams at the baby in her arms.
Wrapped in a soft, cream knitted shawl, the months-old infant sleeps, occasionally cooing, as the mum speaks.
"I was petrified to go through this journey again," Krystal says as she gently rocks her baby.
"I feel so lucky that I've had the outcome that I've had."
It was fear, and a friend's suggestion, that drove Krystal to seek help from Relationships Australia SA.
Krystal experienced homelessness, domestic violence and mental ill health. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
The not-for-profit organisation runs family group conferencing – a state government-funded program that sits families down to plan for how they can safely raise their children.
"We have a word called dadirri, which is deep listening," Relationships Australia SA children's services executive manager, Sarah Decrea, explains.
"Deep listening is a space where healing can occur."
When a heavily-pregnant Krystal arrived for her first family group conferencing session, she entered a room with several chairs arranged in a circle.
She was joined by her family and DCP workers, who presented her with their concerns.
"DCP walked out and [the family] talked about it, discussed it, and wrote it all on a piece of paper – a plan – and when DCP came back we said: 'These are our answers to your concerns'," she says.
DCP then went away to make a decision.
Shifting from policing
For Ms Decrea, family group conferencing is all about self-determination.
Over the years, she has watched the number of children entering state care in SA climb, with First Nations families disproportionately impacted.
Relationships Australia SA children's services executive manager, Sarah Decrea. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
On June 30, 4,891 South Australian children were under the guardianship of the department. Of those, 1,817 were First Nations children.
"For too long, when life becomes hard for people, the system starts to police," Ms Decrea says.
"In family group conferencing, it's about actually working together in solutions for the best interests of children."
Similar programs are run in New South Wales, Tasmania, Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Victoria also runs family group conferencing, but is on the verge of scrapping child protection mediation hearings.
According to a recent study by the Australian Centre for Child Protection, children of families who participate in family group conferencing are "significantly less likely to be the subject of future substantiations of child maltreatment, and significantly less likely to be placed in out-of-home care".
"Just over 90 per cent of family group conferences are really successful," SA's Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard says.
"Success meaning that after a family group conference, a child or young person [is] able to safely stay with their extended family."
Concerns for 'tokenistic' referrals
Given the statistics, Ms Hildyard has faced growing calls to give more families the opportunity to participate in group conferences.
Under current laws, only DCP's chief executive and the courts can refer families to the program – a process which SA's Aboriginal Children's Commissioner April Lawrie describes as "limiting".
"[Family group conferencing] is used too late in the process, usually used by the department to consolidate their own decision," the commissioner says.
"Engagement of family [is] quite tokenistic."
South Australian Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People, April Lawrie is a Mirning and Kokatha woman. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
Proposed new legislation is currently before SA Parliament's upper house, which, if passed, would require DCP to offer all First Nations families a group conference if it has concerns about their child's welfare.
But Ms Lawrie says that change doesn't go far enough.
The commissioner is one of three watchdogs – alongside SA Children's Commissioner Helen Connolly and Guardian for Children Shona Reid – who have signed a letter to all upper house MPs, calling for the proposed laws to be referred to a parliamentary committee for further scrutiny.
"[Family group conferencing] should be a mandatory referral," Ms Lawrie says.
"The department is not equipped to do the offering.
"We know that because that's what's currently in place and we see what the outcomes are – that our families don't have access to family group conferencing when the department is making the offering."
Ms Lawrie said family group conferencing is being used too late in the process to help families. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
But Ms Hildyard says she is proud of the success rate of family group conferencing in South Australia and believes the proposed new laws will require DCP to give more families opportunities to participate in the program.
"We are making sure that through legislation there is that requirement," she says.
"I am really confident that having that requirement will absolutely mean more families are able to have that experience, able to bring their extended family around their child or young person and make decisions together about what will work best for them."
'Fighting chance' to keep kids
When DCP workers eventually told Krystal that they would not remove her baby at birth, she was ecstatic.
Days after being told, she says she started having contractions.
"I was just like 'thank you God, thank you God, thank you God'," the proud mum reflects.
"It has gone from a really scary experience to a really positive one."
Krystal now attends counselling and is in the process of being reunited with her older children.
"I have had a lot of guilt as well for the other mums that didn't get the same outcome," she says.
"That's why I think it's really important that they get support straight away and at least have a fighting chance to keep their kids."
*Name has been changed to protect the identity of children under the guardianship of the Department for Child Protection