Lived experience SHAPING child protection reform in south australia
The Direct Experience Group brings together people with lived experience of South Australia’s child protection and family support system to help inform better policy, practice and system responses.
The group provides an important pathway for people with direct experience to share insights, identify barriers, contribute ideas, and help shape a system that keeps children at the centre while strengthening family connection wherever possible.
The Reily Foundation is proud to provide secretariat support to the Direct Experience Group. The group has been extended by the current Minister for Child Protection, the Honourable Alice Rolls MP, recognising the ongoing value of lived experience in system improvement.
About the Direct Experience Group
The Direct Experience Group was established to ensure people with direct experience of the child protection system have a meaningful voice in system reform.
Members bring firsthand knowledge of what it can feel like to navigate child protection, family support services, care systems, reunification pathways, long-term orders, family contact, and broader service systems.
Through structured meetings, consultation, feedback and lived experience leadership, the group helps inform practical improvements that can strengthen outcomes for children, parents, carers and families across South Australia.
Direct Experience Group: DEG
Find out more
The Reily Foundation provides secretariat support to the Direct Experience Group.
This includes supporting meeting coordination, communication, administration, member engagement, documentation, planning, and connection between the group and relevant system stakeholders.
Reily’s role is to help ensure the group is well-supported and focused on practical contribution.
People with direct experience understand the system in ways that policy, data and service design alone cannot always capture.
Their insights can help identify:
- Where system practice can be improved
- Where families experience confusion or barriers
- What helps parents engage early
- How services can communicate more clearly
- What children and families need from the people around them
- How lived experience can strengthen reform
We welcome expressions of interest from people in South Australia who have direct experience of the child protection and family support system.
This may include:
- Parents with experience of child protection involvement
- Parents who have worked toward reunification
- Parents with children in care
Registering your interest does not guarantee membership, but it helps us understand who would like to be involved and how people may wish to contribute.
Past Communiqués and Updates
The Direct Experience Group regularly shares key themes, insights and recommendations arising from discussions and consultation activities.
These communiqués provide an overview of the issues raised by members, emerging priorities, and opportunities for system improvement. They help ensure lived experience voices contribute to ongoing conversations about child protection and family support in South Australia.
Register your interest
If you have direct experience of South Australia’s child protection or family support system and would like to be considered for future involvement, we invite you to register your interest.
Your voice can help inform positive change for children, parents and families.
