Child Protection Department to offer callback services to cut long wait time to reach child abuse hotline call centre
CONCERNED people reporting suspected child abuse will soon be able to receive a callback from authorities, rather than waiting long periods to reach a social worker.
- Thousands of written child abuse reports go unchecked
- Caller waited seven hours to reach child abuse line
- Finally, extra staff for child abuse report hotline
- Over 14,000 calls to child abuse hotline go unanswered
CONCERNED people reporting suspected child abuse will soon be able to receive a callback from authorities, rather than waiting long periods to speak to a social worker.
The State Government is negotiating with a private company to provide the callback service for its Child Abuse Report Line.
It is also recruiting more than 70 staff to “triage” calls to the hotline to slash a backlog of cases awaiting attention.
The Advertiser has previously reported callers waiting almost seven hours to reach the hotline call centre.
On Monday, The Advertiser reported that unchecked written reports of potential child abuse had hit a record peak of 3800 earlier this year, prompting the State Government to put on extra staff for four days, which cut the backlog to 2500 outstanding reports.
Following a Royal Commission into the state’s child protection system, former judge Margaret Nyland recommended the Government take steps to reduce the maximum wait time to 30 minutes and introduce a callback feature which would respond to people within two hours.
Latest data shows the average wait time in April was 31 minutes, although many people report waiting longer and thousands of calls go unanswered.
The Government has committed almost $20 million to recruiting extra staff and updating its call centre operations to ensure more reports of suspected abuse or neglect are addressed quickly.
Child Development Minister Susan Close said her department would advertise for 53 extra staff to clear a backlog of cases reported via the hotline.
It is currently recruiting another 21 allied health workers, including some social workers, to form a 24/7 triage team to better direct reports made through the hotline.
Dr Close said the new process would, “where safe to do so”, allow the referral of cases that did not necessarily require a formal investigation to a new $8.4 million Multi-Agency Assessment Unit.
That unit will include representatives from departments including health, education, corrections and social inclusion, and police officers.
It will also assess the safety of children reported to welfare authorities in their first 1000 days of life.
The changes stem from a raft of recommendations made in the Nyland report, which was delivered to Government in early August last year.
Opposition child protection spokeswoman Rachel Sanderson said the system desperately needed a “fully staffed, properly qualified” workforce to ensure concerns are addressed.
Figures released by the Government last year show the longest wait time to reach the CARL call centre in 2015-16 was six hours, 56 minutes and 14 seconds.
The shortest wait times were about four minutes.
There were 43,161 calls made to the call centre last financial year, of which 21,918 were abandoned by the caller before being answered.
The call centre operates around the clock, every day of the year.