Child Safety and Wellbeing Health Service (CSWHS)

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

  • The CSWHS 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 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 (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 CSWHS .

Contact details

Management Team
Director, Loretta Whitehorn, telephone: (08) 8204 5485 
A/ Chief Clinical Services Coordinator, Lisa Grobleben, 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. Use this map for directions.