More than 13100 calls to the Child Abuse Report Line go unanswered in 2017-2018

ONE in five calls to the child abuse hotline went unanswered last financial year, including abandoned attempts by callers wanting to report children living in squalor or with drug-using parents.

• How The Advertiser has reported the issue

• June 2015: Families SA’s call centre under pressure as reports grow
• Sept 2015: 15,000 calls to Child Abuse Report Line go unanswered
• July 2016: Families SA begin publishing extent of pressure
• July 2017: 23,500 calls unanswered despite drop in average wait time

ABOUT one in five calls to the child abuse hotline went unanswered last financial year, including abandoned attempts by callers trying to report children living in squalor or with drug-using parents.

Child Protection Department figures show there were more than 13,100 unanswered calls to the Child Abuse Report Line (CARL) in 2017-18.

The number is down from about 23,500 the previous year, but it is likely that thousands of serious cases are still slipping through the cracks.

Analysis shows about a third of all reports that do reach the CARL call centre are deemed serious enough to require investigation.

Child Protection Party secretary Nadia Bergineti said her organisation had heard from concerned grandparents who had “been on hold (to CARL) for a couple of hours and they hung up, frustrated that they couldn’t get through”.

“One particular grandparent is concerned that her grandchildren are living in squalor and the parents have a significant drug issue that is affecting their capacity to parent,” she said.

Ms Bergineti also spent two hours on hold to the hotline before her “cordless phone ran out of battery and I had to call again for another two hours”.

To ensure more calls are answered, the Child Protection Department has, in recent months, hired 21 extra staff to work in the call centre.

It has made workers available overnight through an on-call roster and trialled a system which allows callers to leave a message and receive a call back, rather than wait on hold for long periods.

This has contributed to the average wait time falling from about 42 minutes last financial year to about 14 minutes.

However, Australian Medical Association SA president William Tam, pictured, said doctors “frequently experience frustrating delays when trying to notify children at risk on the hotline” of up to two hours.

“Some (reports) relate to neglect ... adherence to medical advice and attendance at appointments,” he said.

Child Protection Minister Rachel Sanderson said the latest figures “show positive improvements”. When in Opposition, Ms Sanderson had said there was “no doubt” children were “left in dangerous situations” as calls went unanswered.

Department CEO Cathy Taylor conceded long wait times could mean people had to make multiple attempts to get through “which could account for the statistic of one in five unanswered calls”.

The data shows 48,205 of 61,360 calls were answered.