Child protection agencies need to shift away from attempting to preserve dysfunctional families that severely scar children for life, an academic has said in response to a report into South Australia's royal commission into abuse.

Dr Jeremy Sammut, from the Centre for Independent Studies, accused Commissioner Margaret Nyland's report of attempting to reinvent the "existing flawed system that has failed children".

Key recommendations from the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission included the abolition of single shifts in residential care facilities, establishing a children's commissioner, and reforms to the child abuse report line.

"What happens is that the usual suspects in the sector, the academics and a lot of the charities, get a hold of the royal commissioner and tell them that the problem is we don't do enough to keep children safe with their families, that we don't do enough early intervention and prevention," he said.

"But all the evidence, including the evidence in the Nyland report, shows the real problem is we leave children with really dysfunctional families.

"We do too much family preservation at almost all costs and we leave them for much longer than they could [and] they are seriously damaged by abuse and neglect."

Royal commission key recommendations: Abolish single shifts

Abolish single shifts Improve child abuse report line response and assessment times

Improve child abuse report line response and assessment times Mandatory six-month probationary employment

Mandatory six-month probationary employment Rigorous performance reviews for all new staff

Rigorous performance reviews for all new staff Provide psychological service to address high stress levels in the workplace

Provide psychological service to address high stress levels in the workplace Enact standalone legislation for a screening regime

Enact standalone legislation for a screening regime Ensure a real-time monitoring system

Ensure a real-time monitoring system Amend the Children's Protection Act to give more say to children

Amend the Children's Protection Act to give more say to children Establish a child protection service at the Lyell McEwin Hospital

Establish a child protection service at the Lyell McEwin Hospital Ensure every child has a caseworker who has face to face contact once a month

Ensure every child has a caseworker who has face to face contact once a month Review staff involved in McCoole case and their suitability to stay in their roles

Dr Sammut said family preservation was a belief system that lead to a "mounting toll of damaged children who end up in care because they have been left for too long".

"If we are going to really change the system what we need to do is recognise that we are talking about families with the most severe problems, these are the worst of the worst.

"It is an underclass of families in which the normal norms about parenting and family life most of us take for granted, simply don't exist.

"We need to stop trying to fix unfixable families, we need to remove children earlier before they are damaged by their parents, then we need to prevent kids being churned through foster care by allowing those who can't go home safely, to be adopted so they are safe and stable and have a secure family for life."

The royal commission was launched following the conviction of paedophile and former Families SA worker Shannon McCoole, who was also head administrator for a global child exploitation website.

On Monday the royal commission released 260 recommendations to overhaul child protection.

The report found children removed from dangerous family situations often ended up in government-run homes or motel-style commercial care.