The mother of a five-month-old bashed by his Unanderra babysitter has welcomed calls to include offenders who use violence against children on the state's Child Protection Register.
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The Illawarra woman, whose name has been withheld to protect the identity of her child, endorsed stricter supervision for offenders like Adam Crosby Boardman, who was jailed for 6½ years in April 2011 for violently shaking her baby.
"I think that it would be great because they do these [violent acts], they get out and then they could just be unknown ... at least that would be there as a safety net, really," she said.
"I'd definitely be happy with any sort of changes that call for harsher monitoring [of violent offenders against children]."
Under a proposal before the NSW government, adults convicted of grievous bodily harm or intentional wounding of children under 10 - including cases of shaken baby syndrome - would be placed on the register alongside child murderers, sex offenders and people sentenced for child prostitution, pornography and kidnapping.
The register requires offenders to report their address, employment, car, phone number and email details to police.
Any contact with children or travel outside NSW must also be reported.
Boardman was convicted of grievous bodily harm with intent after admitting to grabbing the five-month-old baby by the head and shaking it for up to 30 seconds.
The sickening attack occurred while he was babysitting the child at his Unanderra home on May 8, 2010.
The child, now aged 4½, suffers from a number of permanent injuries as a result of the attack, including cerebral palsy.
"He's got behavioural problems and he'll have to go to a special school," his mother said.
"You try and get on with life but then you go to another doctor's appointment and you get another diagnosis. It's hard to move on from it."
Wollongong lawyer Helen Volk welcomed the inclusion of violent offenders against children on the register but said the court should have some discretion.
"Certainly children are in need of protection. Often they're victims of serious violence, whether it be from family members or other people, and the [perpetuation] of that violence is of a significant concern to everybody," Ms Volk said. "I think some discretion for the court would be appropriate because it's possible [it may be an accident] and you wouldn't want [to add to the trauma]."
The proposed changes are the result of a review of the law by the NSW Police Ministry.
It endorsed a call by police, victim support groups and the Attorney-General's Department to include the manslaughter of a child on the register, except where the death was the result of a car accident.
It also recommended the inclusion of violent offenders against children on the register to be made retrospective, to cover people who were previously convicted but still pose a potential risk to children's safety.
