Child Safety and Wellbeing Health Service (CSWHS) at Flinders Medical Centre
Formerly known as the Child Protection Service (CPS), the Child Safety and Wellbeing Health Service (CSWHS) aims to provide specialist assessment and therapeutic services to infants, children and young people from birth to 18 years and their families where there are concerns about child abuse, psychological maltreatment and/or neglect.
The specialised team provides these services to families residing within the southern metropolitan areas of Adelaide and southern South Australia.
If you are wanting to make a notification about a child's safety, call the Child Abuse Report Line (Department of Child Protection) on 131 478.
The CSWHS offers a range of services including:
Consultation
- Telephone consultation to professionals within the Southern Area Local Health Network (SALHN), other professionals and members of the public to discuss child protection matters, provide information and advice, and where appropriate facilitate referrals to other services. This is available Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 5.00pm.
Referrals
The CSWHS accepts assessment referrals from the Department for Child Protection (DCP) and SA Police for:
- Forensic medical assessments in relation to suspicious/unexplained injuries or severe neglect (for children and young people under the age of 18) and allegations of sexual abuse (for children/young people under the age of 16)
- Forensic psychosocial assessments of children under the age of 7 to assess situations where there have been allegations of physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect or psychological maltreatment
- Parenting capacity assessments to assess the potential safety and wellbeing of infants, children and young people where the Department of Child Protection have significant concerns about abuse/neglect and/or psychological maltreatment
- Comprehensive Health Assessments and health reviews of children who are in out of home care
Therapeutic referrals
- Children 0-12 years of age with evidence of therapeutic need following an experience of abuse and/or neglect
- Current or recent involvement with the Department of Child Protection (DCP) or the South Australian Police
- Priority will be given to children under the guardianship of the DCP Chief Executive.
How to access the service
The CSWHS provides a telephone consultation service, which can be accessed by telephoning 8204 5485 during business hours and asking to speak to the duty worker.
The CSWHS also provides an afterhours emergency telephone consultation service for professionals (e.g. Department of Child Protection, SAPOL and health professionals) which can be accessed by telephoning the FMC Switchboard on (08) 8204 5511 and asking for the CSWHS.
Contact details
Management Team
Director, Loretta Whitehorn, telephone: (08) 8204 5485
A/ Chief Clinical Services Coordinator, Laura Smith, telephone: (08) 8204 5485
Office Manager, Dominique Gregory, telephone: (08) 8204 5485
Telephone
general enquiries: (08) 8204 5485
Duty
Worker: (08) 8204 5485
After
hours referrals: (08) 8204 5511, ask for CSWHS
Fax: (08) 8204 5612
Email: Health.FMCChildProtectionService@sa.gov.au
Location: Mark Oliphant Building (northern side), 5 Laffer Drive, Bedford Park SA 5046
Directions: Parking is available at the front of the building. See the map for directions (PDF 188KB).