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Netted, drugged, locked away: the damning face of child mental health in SA

South Australian children experiencing mental crises are being tied down under nets, locked up in seclusion at extreme rates and forcibly injected with sedating drugs, prompting warnings youngsters are suffering lasting harm from coercive health-system practices.

Nets are being used to tie children to ambulance stretchers to take them to the hospital and, once there, children are being locked in seclusion at a rate which is the country’s highest, far outstripping the national average.

Royal Commission into SA child protection demands hundreds of changes after pedophile’s horrific crimes

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has urged voters to trust in his ability to fix child protection in the state, after a royal commission demanded hundreds of changes to the tragedy-plagued system.

But the opposition says Mr Weatherill is inextricably linked to the serious failings identified and has no choice but to resign.

Another SA carer arrested over child abuse

Another review of South Australia's scandal-plagued child protection system has been ordered after the arrest of a residential care worker who has been accused of abusing young children.

Education and Child Development Minister Susan Close confirmed the arrest of the man and says while she can't comment on the individual case an independent legal firm has been engaged to look into the department's employment and screening processes.

The man was believed to have been among 25 carers 'red-flagged' and suspended for a time after a 2014 inquiry into the children protection system but, along with several others, later cleared and allowed to return to work.

Premier backed down on child protection agency

Forcing the South Australian Labor government to establish a stand-alone child protection agency, with a new chief executive with specialist credentials, will help stem an exodus of social workers, the Public Service ­Association says.

The Weatherill government yesterday bowed to an interim royal commission recommendation announcing the creation of a new child protection department, splitting those responsibilities from education.