Child protection caseworkers in Redfern staged a protest outside the Community Services Centre, highlighting what they described as an unacceptable risk to child safety in NSW.
The protest, which happened on Wednesday, 3 July, drew attention to the escalating crisis within the child protection system, with caseworkers reporting chronic understaffing and burnout.
The alarming discovery that only one in four children reported to child protection services as being at risk of serious harm was at the centre of the crisis. The Department’s data revealed a staggering number of 113,668 children and young people reported at risk in NSW in the previous year, with only 25,899 receiving attention. The situation was even more dire in some parts of the state, where only 15 per cent of children at risk were seen.
The Public Service Association (PSA) General Secretary Stewart Little emphasised the situation’s urgency, stating that Premier Chris Minns needed to intervene immediately. “The most vulnerable kids in this state are at risk of serious harm, or worse because child protection caseworkers are chronically understaffed and exhausted,” said Mr Little. He further highlighted the concern of caseworkers that exposing vulnerable children to a broken system may lead to further harm.
The PSA called for the Minns government to take immediate action, demanding the deprivatization of foster care, hiring 500 caseworkers, and a significant pay increase for current employees. While acknowledging that the current government did not create the crisis, Mr Little stressed their responsibility to fix it.
The protest came as child protection caseworkers grappled with the additional workload of colleagues who had left due to the challenging conditions. Data indicated that one in two caseworkers left within their first two years of employment, while the vacancy rate for positions on any given day could be as high as one in five.
Despite the protest, the PSA assured the people of Redfern that urgent child protection responses would not be impacted, with skeleton staffing maintained throughout the event. Mr Little explained that the protest was a last resort, as management was not receptive to their concerns.
Published Date 02-August-2024
