Child Protection Service at Flinders Medical Centre

The Child Protection Service (CPS) 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 service is located at the Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) and 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 CPS 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 CPS accepts assessment referrals from the Department of 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

  • The CPS provides a therapeutic reunification service for infants and young children under the age of 5 years and their family. Referrals for this service are accepted from the Department of Child Protection where the children are under current Guardianship Orders.

How to access the service

The CPS 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 CPS also provides an after hours emergency telephone consultation service for professionals (eg 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 CPS.

Contact details

Management Team
Director, Jacqui Beall, telephone: (08) 8204 5485 
Clinical Services Coordinator, Kerri Molden, 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 CPS) 
Fax: (08) 8204 5612 
Email: Health.FMCChildProtectionService@sa.gov.au

Location: 'The Flats', Flinders Drive, Bedford Park SA 5042
Directions: Use Southern Carpark.
Park on Ground Level of the carpark, take walking path to stairs at the Southern end of carpark. Walk up hill to Child Protection Services Building.  There is also limited parking available at CPS, access from Flinders Drive. An additional carpark (wheelchair access) is available behind the CPS Administration building.
Map: Flinders Medical Centre Precinct Map (PDF 587KB)

Department contact details

Clinical Director and April Ellis 
Telephone: (08) 8204 4459 
Fax: (08) 8204 3945