Threshold for suspected child abuse raised in SA
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.