Families SA consider hiring non-social workers to take abuse reports on the phone

FAMILIES SA’s plan to lessen the load on its clogged Child Abuse Report Line will lead to double handling and “pose a real danger” that children will “fall through the cracks”, the public sector union warns.

• Half of calls to Families SA abuse hotline are unnecessary
• More than 15,000 calls to Child Abuse line go unanswered
• About 1000 calls lodged are unchecked at any one time
• Families SA’s call centre under pressure as reports of suspected abuse grow

PLANS to hire “civilians” instead of social workers to field calls reporting abuse to Families SA will lead to double handling and “pose a real danger” that children will “fall through the cracks”, the public sector union warns.

Families SA wants to hire 10 workers to follow a script when taking information from people

reporting suspected abuse or neglect and prepare reports for qualified social workers to assess.

The child protection agency hopes the move will lead to fewer callers to the Child Abuse Report Line hanging up because of long wait times and give social workers more time to focus on assessing serious cases.

The trial is expected to cost about $500,000.

However, the Public Service Association is fighting the plan, saying it is “simplistic” and goes against recommendations of the 2006 Layton Royal Commission which called for staff taking such calls to have a minimum two years’ experience in child protection work.

Instead, the PSA wants Families SA to reinstate three fulltime staff to help social workers in the call centre by performing administration tasks, such as booking hotel rooms for children taken from their parents or organising provisions such as nappies or clothing.

About 15,000 calls to the report line went unanswered last financial year as the average wait time grew to 20 minutes.

To address the growing pressure on the call centre, Families SA will hire 10 “operational” staff for an initial six-month trial to take calls between 7am and 7pm on weekdays.

Any caller raising an “immediate” risk would be transferred to a social worker.

According to a government paper seen by The Advertiser, the new staff would be expected to take about 20 calls per day, spending about 20 minutes per call.

The union says using a script is too simplistic and the plan “poses a real danger that those most at risk may fall through the cracks”.

PSA General Secretary Jan McMahon said the pilot proposal “fails dismally” to address wider under-resourcing and was “likely to reinforce the system’s well documented failings”.

“Children are currently at risk, and the reluctance of the department to tackle the real issues will result in potential further tragedies,” she said.

Education and Child Development Department chief Tony Harrison said it was necessary to trial new ideas to find ways to make the call centre more efficient.
He reiterated that “every call that’s taken ... is still going to be funnelled through social workers”.
“Why would you not support a rigorous evaluation and assessment process of this and actually see what the good and the bad is that comes out of the trial?” Mr Harrison said.
He added that he was “willing” to reinstate the staff requested by the PSA to support social workers, as part of the proposed trial.
Opposition child protection spokeswoman Rachel Sanderson said staff answering phone calls “on the front line ... must have a very good understanding of the complexities of child abuse and neglect”.