Carer group speaks out as hundreds of calls to Department for Child Protection abuse line go unanswered

Advocates claim the latest scandal only scratches the surface of the SA’s state care crisis, as it’s revealed hundreds of abuse calls are going unanswered.

Minister for Child Protection Katrine Hildyard. Picture NCA NewsWire / Emma Brasier.

A group of carers believes the number of serious injuries suffered by children in state care is being massively underreported, claiming the department is downplaying the depth of the child protection crisis.

The advocacy body is now calling for an independent complaints mechanism, as it is revealed up to 40 calls per day to the Department for Child Protection’s abuse report hotline are going unanswered every day.

In May 2024, 5607 calls were made to the reporting line — but just 4305, 76.8 per cent, were answered.

Total calls to the 24/7 hotline were up 16.5 per cent compared to the month prior, and online child abuse reports have surged by more than 50 per cent.

The Carer Project spokeswoman Joyce Woody said many foster and kinship carers felt powerless lodging concerns through the DCP’s internal complaints system — and believed the number of incidents was not being accurately reported.

Earlier this week, it was revealed 49 people had been charged with a sexual offence against a vulnerable child in the department’s care between March 2022 and May 2024, one of which was a DCP staff member.

Two of those alleged rapes resulted in pregnancies.

Minister for Child Protection Katrine Hildyard. Picture NCA NewsWire / Emma Brasier.

Data also showed 26 serious incidents had been reported from January 1 to December 31 last year — but that number, Ms Woody believed, did not scratch the surface of the true number of injuries being suffered by children in care.

“They’re saying we only had 50 incidents in the past two years, but we represent more than 600 carers, and we see the self harm, the suicides, the sexual assaults, the burns, the lacerations … do you think we’ve only had 50 of those?” she said.

Ms Woody believed the department was “broken”, echoing calls from the opposition for the portfolio to be held as a stand-alone ministry and for more transparency in the complaints process.

Datan revealed six DCP staff had been dismissed for misconduct across the 2022 and 2023 calendar years, while a total of 31 staff had been managed by human resources between June 2022 and May 2024 for breaches of DCP’s policies.

However, further details about complaints about staff have not been disclosed under the department’s privacy policies.

The Carer Project co-chair Joyce Woody. Picture: Supplied

“We need a minister that is focused on only child protection — this is a ministry that is approaching $1bn per year, it needs laser focus,” Ms Woody said.

“We need responsibility and consequences.”

The Liberal Party has also slammed a proposed $62.7m reduction in department spending in the 2024-25 state budget, saying the state’s more than 4800 children in care could suffer as a result.

“The figures are startling – on average 42 calls every day are going unanswered. That means there could be 42 serious incidents of child abuse or neglect that the government may never become aware of,” opposition child protection spokeswoman Laura Henderson said.

But Ms Hildyard said she was not going to be distracted by “political game-playing” and remained “utterly focused on supporting children and young people and their families”.

“I don’t ever want anybody to be deterred from making a report to the child abuse report line — these sort of assertions can be damaging,” she said.

“Since coming into government we have invested an additional $450m into the system and we have more staff working since we came to government (and) more staff at the call centre.

“If people cannot get through on the telephone, we encourage them to make a report online.”

Ms Hildyard said suggestions her second portfolio as sports minister was incompatible with the child protection ministry were “nonsense”.

“I am absolutely up for this challenge ... we are beginning to make change. We will keep making change (and) will not be distracted by petty political games,” she said.