Child Protection Services

Child Protection Services (CPS) provide specialist assessment and treatment services to children from birth to 18 years and their families where there is a suspicion of child abuse, psychological maltreatment and/or neglect.

Child Protection Services (CPS) provides specialist assessment and treatment services to children from birth to 18 years and their families where there is a suspicion of child abuse, psychological maltreatment and/or neglect. Child Protection Services at the Women’s and Children’s hospital (WCH) provides these services to families residing within the northern city and northern country areas of Adelaide.

CPS works in conjunction with the Paediatric Forensic Medical Service (PFMS) to provide urgent psychosocial therapeutic services to infants, children/young people who are referred for forensic medical services and specialist consultations when there are suspicions that injuries or conditions are related to physical/ sexual abuse or neglect.

If you are wanting to make a notification about a child's safety, you need to call the Child Abuse Report Line (Department for Child Protection) on 13 14 78.

How to access this service

Location

Women’s and Children’s Hospital Campus – Level 3, Zone E, Samuel Way Building,
Client Services – Level 3, 77 King William Road, North Adelaide

Further information

Consultation

CPS provides telephone consultation to professionals within Women's and Children's Health Network (WCHN), other professionals to discuss child protection matters, provide information and advice and where appropriate, and facilitate referrals to other services. This is available Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.

Assessment services offered by CPS

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 well- being of children and young people in the care of their parents/carers where the Department for Child Protection are extremely concerned about abuse/neglect and/or psychological maltreatment.

CPS accepts such referrals from the Department for Child Protection (DCP) and SA Police.

Therapeutic services offered by CPS

Therapy for children and young people under the age of 18 and family members where abuse/neglect and/or psychological maltreatment has been established and there is evidence of resulting harm which needs to be resolved to restore and enhance health. Referrals for CPS therapy are accepted from Department for Child Protection, SAPOL, other professionals and parents or carers.
Sexualised Behaviour Therapy Service which provides therapy to children 2-12 years of age and their families or carers where the major concern is problematic sexual behaviour and where no recent sexual abuse has been confirmed. Referrals to the Sexualised Behaviour Therapy Service are accepted from parents, carers, Department for Child Protection, SAPOL, and other professionals where the child/young person meets the criteria. Referrals for treatment are accepted from the CAMHS catchment areas.
Acacia therapy service, which provides long term therapy for children aged between 0-12 years who are under the Guardianship of the Chief Executive (CE) and/or of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander decent. Referrals to the Acacia service are accepted from the Department for Child Protection.
Carer and Infant Therapy, which provides therapy from unborn up to age of 3 years and their carers. Referrals to the Infant and Carer therapy service are accepted from within CPS and WCHN, the Department for Child Protection, SAPOL and other professionals where the child/young person meets the criteria.

Out of Home Care Clinic

The Out of Home Care (OOHC) Clinic (commonly known as the Families SA Clinic) provides Comprehensive Health and Development Assessments to eligible children and young people under the Guardianship of the Chief Executive Officer of the Department for Child Protection (DCP).
A comprehensive, child-friendly, trauma-informed health assessment is provided so as to improve the overall health and wellbeing of children and young people in care by identifying and responding to their physical, developmental, psychological and mental health needs.
Referrals are primarily accepted from the young person’s DCP allocated social worker. The clinic also receives referrals from other Departments within the WCHN or the young person’s GP which must be confirmed and agreed to by the DCP worker.
A consultant paediatrician, advanced paediatric trainee and a psychosocial staff member conduct the health assessments. The clinic operates weekly on a Tuesday.
Young people who have ongoing medical and health needs are reviewed as needed.

WCH Foundation Cocoon Program

The Cocoon Program provides a health and development clinic on Monday's that supports vulnerable infants and their parents/carers across the first 12 months of life.
The Cocoon Program clinic team is a multidisciplinary team that includes an Allied Health Clinical Coordinator, a Consultant Paediatrician, a Senior Physiotherapist, an Infant Mental Health Therapist and an Aboriginal Cultural Child and Family Support Consultant.
The care that infants and their carers will receive may include paediatric medical care, infant mental health care, developmental screening and assessments, education and ideas to support your infant's development and referral to specialist services, as required.
Referrals are received directly from WCHN staff (ie Postnatal Midwives, Neonatal team), health staff, CaFHS or from allocated DCP case workers.

Contact

Phone

(08) 8161 7346 – Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm

CPS provides an after-hours emergency telephone consultation service, which can be accessed by Department for Child Protection, SAPOL and some health professionals by telephoning WCH Hospital Switchboard on 8161 7000 and asking for CPS.