Statistical data

This page reports on key statistics regarding child protection in South Australia. These figures refer to current data either:

at a point in time - eg children in care at 31 October 2023
over a full month - eg notifications during October 2023.

Full year or 30 June point in time data for the previous 5 years is also reported for comparative purposes.

Unless indicated otherwise, this data refers to children or young people aged under 18 years.

Combined publicly released monthly figures will vary from final figures reported nationally for the financial year once the data for that period is finalised.

Monthly data is subject to change as data entry can be delayed by court processes, approval process and case manager workload. On 22 October 2018, Department for Child Protection reporting was affected by substantial changes to our main information system (C3MS) to incorporate new legislative requirements. The legislation changed some foundation aspects of child protection and as a result of this, there may be issues with comparing current data to old data.

Full financial year figures are not released until data is finalised for the annual Report on Government Services to ensure consistency with the national dataset. This usually occurs in January. July to December monthly data continues to be uploaded to this webpage in the meantime, and the June monthly figures will continue to be displayed until being replaced by the official end of financial year RoGS data is available.

Children in care

Total children in each type of care

Type of care	On 31 July 2025	30 June 2024	30 June 2023	30 June 2022	30 June 2021	30 June 2020	30 June 2019	30 June 2018
Total children aged under 18 years in care	4891	4891	4864	4740	4646	4370	3988	3695
Children aged 0-17 years placed in care under a court order or administrative authority. A 'Voluntary Custody Agreement' is an administrative authority to place children in care. Orders granted under the Children's Protection Act 1993 (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site) will continue as if they were issued under the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017. (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site) (external site)
Family based care total	4129	4113	4115	4031	3992	3771	3420	3147
The Family based care total is the sum of foster care, kinship care and family day care placements.
Foster care	1615	1615	1666	1669	1706	1641	1540	1434
Foster care is provided by approved carers. Foster carers are recruited, assessed, trained and supported by non-government service providers.
Kinship care	2449	2447	2406	2327	2245	2090	1852	1684
Kinship care is one of the following: a relative (other than parents) a person considered to be family a close friend a member of the child or young person's community (in accordance with their culture). For Aboriginal children, a kinship carer may be another Aboriginal person who is a member of their community, a compatible community or the same language group. This count includes Specific Child Only placements as per national reporting rules.
Additionally Approved Care	18	na	na	na	na	na	na
Additionally approved care refers to the placement of children with approved kinship carers with whom the child has no prior relationship, to provide emergency and short-term placements while long-term family-based placements are arranged. This care type provides family-based care to children but is not a kinship or foster placement. The program is currently being trialled in a 12-month pilot by the Department for Child Protection.
Family Day Care	47	51	43	35	41	40	28	29
Family Day Care (FDC) refers to the Guardianship Family Day Care response which provides short term family-based care to children under 6 while seeking kinship or foster care placements. The program was established by a Memorandum of Administrative Agreement between the Department for Education and the Department for Child Protection.
Non-family based care total	762	778	749	709	654	599	568	548
The non-family based care count comprises Residential care, Independent Living and Commercial property placements.
Residential care	689	721	701	649	604	413	415	408
Residential care is care provided by either the Department for Child Protection or a contracted non-government organisation in a residential setting. Residential care premises are licensed by the Department for Child Protection.
Independent living	73	57	48	60	50	63	50	47
Independent living includes children living in: private boarding lead tenant households (where a pair of adolescents house-share with a pair of adult community members)
Commercial property	0	0	0	0	0*	123	103	93
Commercial care was provided at suitable commercial premises such as private rental houses or units, and was staffed by non-government carers who worked shifts on a rotating 24 hour, 7 day per week roster.

*Commercial care contractual arrangements ceased on 9 October 2020.

Children placed on orders

	July 2025	2023-24	2022-23	2021-22	2020-21	2019-20	2018-19	2017-18
Total children placed on orders	469	1581	1723	1895	2728	2583	1831	1371
The number of children who were placed on a new legal authority. This is a total count including children placed on an order for the first time and those with a previous order. This includes both court orders and administrative authorities such as a voluntary custody agreement.
Children placed on orders for the first time	71	705	872	809	1013	911	758	620
The number of children who were placed on a legal authority for the first time. This includes both court orders and administrative authorities such as a voluntary custody agreement.

	On 31 July 2025	30 June 2024	30 June 2023	30 June 2022	30 June 2021	30 June 2020	30 June 2019	30 June 2018
Total children currently on a Guardianship to 12 months order	509	558	550	496	550	610	513	470
An order granting guardianship of a child or young person to the Chief Executive for 12 months.
Total children currently on a Guardianship to 18 years order	4157	4149	4133	4054	3907	3653	3406	2932
An order granting guardianship of a child or young person to the Chief Executive until the child or young person is 18 years of age.

Call centre lines and eCARL reports

	July 2025	2023- 24	2022-23	2021-22	2020-21	2019-20	2018-19	2017-18
Call Centre contacts	9107	119212	114299	104359	108113	102830	105275	92404
Call Centre contacts is the sum of phone calls made and eCARLs submitted to the Call Centre. An eCARL is an online alternative to calling the Child Abuse Report Line (CARL) for non-urgent notifications.
Total calls made to the Call Centre	5009	63637	62980	61328	66833	65334	70297	61360
Total number of phone calls to the Department for Child Protection Call Centre.
Number of calls answered	4111	51777	50345	49934	53474	50751	57270	48205
Number of phone calls to the Call Centre that were answered.
Average wait time to the Child Abuse Report Line	10 min 47 sec	11 min 05 sec	12 min 23 sec	11 min 4 sec	11 min 49 sec	15 min 22 sec	11 min 15 sec	15 min 46 sec
The average wait time on the Child Abuse Report Line (CARL).
Number of eCARL submissions	4098	55575	51319	43031	41280	37496	34978	31044
eCARL is an online alternative to calling the Child Abuse Report Line (CARL) for non-urgent notifications.

Reported notifications and screened-in notifications

	July 2025	2023- 24	2022-23	2021-22	2020-21	2019-20	2018-19	2017-18
Reported notifications	8059	98931	92951	80374	80175	75552	78199	64200
A notification is recorded in the system when a report is made to the Child Abuse Report Line. This could be in the form of a phone call or an eCARL. If more than one report is received about the same child they are recorded in the same notification for a period of time (usually 6 weeks), so information about the same matter is grouped together.
Screened-in notifications	2545	39957	39515	34736	38473	39508	28786	23909
Reported notifications that meet the child protection threshold for further Department for Child Protection assessment and response as defined by policy and regulations.

Contact

DCP Activity and Performance

Email: DCPPerformanceReporting@sa.gov.au