Almost half of calls to SA Child Protection Department abuse hotline are minor reports

The state’s child abuse hotline is being clogged with thousands of calls over minor concerns. Find out what’s being reported.

Nearly half of calls to the state’s child abuse hotline are to report minor concerns, such as children bringing junk food to school or fighting with siblings.

In just one year, Department for Child Protection (DCP) staff fielded more than 47,500 calls and emails to the state’s child abuse hotline that were ultimately deemed too minor to require action.

That equates to at least two in every five calls clogging the system – as they must still spend time assessing and documenting each report; tying up resources which could be directed to more urgent cases.

Some callers may flag serious incidents but provide only vague information, or cannot identify alleged abusers or victims, so child protection workers are unable to act.

Almost half the calls to the South Australian Child Protection Call Centre are too minor to require action. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE / Emma Brasier

Latest available data shows child abuse report line staff received almost 63,000 calls and another 51,300 emails lodging concerns about at-risk children in 2022-23

Following requests by The Advertiser, DCP boss Jackie Bray has revealed more than 47,500 of them were deemed “notifier concerns”.

This label is used for reports where someone suspects a child is at risk but the case does not meet the threshold for government workers to intervene.

In 2021-22 there were almost 41,000 notifier concerns.

Data for 2023-24 is still being finalised.

Examples of notifier concerns, released by the government following requests from The Advertiser, include callers reporting:

A child refusing to wear their school uniform and another only bringing junk food for lunch;

Parents arguing and siblings fighting;

A child not wearing a seatbelt;

A parent being hungover on a Sunday morning;

Relatives not supporting a child’s choice to gender-identify as non-binary;

A mother having high expectations for her child’s grades and sporting achievements;

A child not having their hair washed for three days; and

A 16-year-old holding a party at home with alcohol, while parents were present.

Have you ever been hungover around your children? You could be reported for child abuse.

SA has laws which require mandatory reporters – such as doctors, nurses and teachers – to inform authorities when they suspect a child is at risk of harm.

The state government this week released new child safety laws which will lift that threshold to a risk of “significant harm”.

The contentious change is expected to reduce the number of calls swamping the hotline and free up staff to work with children facing serious and long-lasting physical or psychological harm.

Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard said the government would develop clear advice for mandatory reporters based on the new laws.

“When you have this (current) enormous number of notifications what (DCP) workers are doing is sifting through those notifications to find those children that we absolutely need to provide the most intense support to, that we don’t want to see fall through the cracks,” she said.

The Advertiser first revealed the rate of unnecessary reports with 2013-14 figures showing half of the 44,200 notifications made that year were too minor for the department to take action.

In late 2015 departmental leaders pledged to launch a public education campaign about what should be reported, similar to health campaigns urging people not to go to a hospital emergency department for minor injuries or illness.

However the campaign never eventuated.