Threshold for suspected child abuse raised in SA

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The threshold for when suspected child abuse needs to be reported will be raised under a proposed overhaul of South Australia's child protection laws.

Transcript

00:00It's the first port of call when there are concerns about a child's safety, but the Premier

00:06says South Australia's child abuse report line is overwhelmed.

00:11We are talking about thousands upon thousands of notifications that make it literally impossible

00:16for Child Protection to respond to every single one.

00:19One in three South Australian children are reported to the Department for Child Protection

00:24by age 10.

00:25Under current laws, teachers, doctors and police officers must make a report if they

00:30suspect a child is at risk of harm.

00:33The government wants to lift the reporting threshold, so only suspicions of significant

00:38harm need to be notified.

00:39I think it's trying to ensure that the right resources are put at the right event at the

00:46right time.

00:47The proposed change would bring SA into line with the rest of the country, but some foster

00:51carers say the narrower threshold could deter people from making reports.

00:56This reduction in the number of reports could very possibly result in more children being

01:02left in harmful situations.

01:04There is merit in trying to get to as many vulnerable kids as we possibly can, wherever

01:10they are.

01:11But we can actually do ourselves a disservice through a scattergun approach.

01:15The proposed change is part of a long-awaited overhaul of the state's child protection laws.

01:20The government also wants domestic violence recognised as a cause of child harm, and to

01:26ensure the Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner can investigate child protection

01:31concerns.

01:32It's about ensuring that any complaints relating to the care and protection of children and

01:37young people is handled with the utmost professionalism and due diligence.

01:43Public consultation on the proposed changes is open for one month.

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