PHOTO: Public Service Association regional organisers, Tom Hooper and Belinda Tsrekas were in Coonamble last week to find out more about the staffing situation at the local Community Services office.
Almost two months after child protection workers went on strike due to understaffing and low wages, persistent issues continue to plague the sector.
A visit last week by Public Service Association (PSA) staff, the union representing Community and Public Sector staff, is throwing the spotlight on the impacts on Coonamble.
Former case workers Tom Hooper and Belinda Tsrekas visited Coonamble on Tuesday 29 May to get a better understanding of child protection staff shortages in the area.
Their route will also take them to Mudgee, Coonabarabran, Walgett, Bourke, Brewarrina, Cobar, and Nyngan before heading further south as far as Albury.
They say the lack of caseworkers is putting vulnerable children in harms way as remaining staff are stretched to breaking point.
In April, child protection workers went on strike due to ongoing issues of understaffing and low pay.
Currently, there is only one Out of Home Caseworker in Coonamble, who has two support workers to assist her. They work with children in foster care.
There are no Child Protection Caseworkers based in the local office. These are the people who follow up on reports of child physical or sexual assaults and neglect.
“Ten years ago there were four busy child protection caseworkers in Coonamble,” Tom Hooper said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) said that there is a caseworker who comes to Coonamble five days a week.
In 2022-23, there were 248 children and young people reported as being at risk of significant harm in Coonamble shire, according to statistics from the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ).
The number of children reported at risk of significant harm in Coonamble decreased in recent years after reaching a high of 334 in the 2020-2021 year.
However, the reduction in reported cases has been surpassed by a reduction in the number of staff available to follow up on reports.
Statistics from the DCJ from the last quarter of 2023 showed 256 full-time equivalent caseworker vacancies in NSW.
That is more than double the number of full-time equivalent caseworker vacancies compared with 2022.
As of December 2023, the Western NSW, Murrumbidgee, and Far West had 23 vacant positions, equivalent to an eight percent vacancy rate.
Staff shortages mean the percentage of children at risk of significant harm who were seen by a DCJ caseworker decreased between 2022 and 2023.
In the Far West, Murrumbidgee and Western NSW, 22 percent of children reported to be at risk of significant harm saw a DCJ caseworker between October 2023 and December 2023, according to DCJ statistics.
“I get calls all the time about people not being able to sleep at night because they had seen two or three kids but were not able to see the other 15,” Ms Tsrekas said.
“When people are getting hurt with mental injuries, it’s very hard for them to focus on their job. They lose motivation. They fall further and further behind,” Mr Hooper said.
DCJ CS runs year-round recruitment for new case workers but the Union reps say retention rates are also low.
“About 50 percent leave before they complete the mandatory 17-week training to become a caseworker,” Mr Hooper said.
“The move to the hub model where services are provided out of one community services centre just means the caseworkers and the community have to travel further.”
The NSW Government say their reforms will focus on the attraction and retention of caseworkers.
“When the NSW Labor Government scrapped the punitive wages cap imposed by the former coalition government, child protection caseworkers gained their largest pay increase in over a decade,” Minister for Families and Communities Kate Washington said.
“Talks with the PSA are ongoing and we will continue to negotiate with case workers in good faith, as they do one of the most important jobs – caring for the state’s most vulnerable children.”
While the PSA say they are adamant that child protection needs to be addressed in NSW, local communities wait and wonder who is watching out for the children most at risk.