Child protection is in crisis in south-west Victoria, with some offices experiencing staff vacancy rates of more than 50 per cent despite predictions caseloads will continue to rise, according to a damning internal report.
The crisis is leaving some of the most vulnerable children in the state without support, as more than 100 at-risk children in the state’s south-west have no caseworker.
Child protection workers in south-western Victoria are unable to meet caseloads due to staff shortages.Credit:Act for Kids
The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing is restructuring several offices in the Wimmera south-west area – part of the Victorian Child Protection Service’s western region – to address severe staffing shortages.
But that restructure could lead to some workers making five-hour round trips between Warrnambool and Horsham to interview families suspected of abusing or neglecting children.
A leaked internal report shows the department is particularly concerned about the area of Child Protection that covers the cities of Horsham, Warrnambool, Portland and Hamilton.
The area-wide restructure is designed to address the “chronic challenges” posed by staff shortages, as 65 per cent of positions in the Horsham office are vacant and 52 per cent are vacant in the combined Portland and Hamilton office.
“[Wimmera south-west area] has had ongoing difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff in Hamilton, Portland and Horsham offices, particularly senior practitioners,” the document says.
“Combined with staff turnover, planned and unplanned leave, and WorkCover claims, there has been insufficient ‘critical mass’ to manage the workload in these locations. This has led to high rates of cases awaiting allocation and concerns about practice quality.”
A snapshot taken on February 15 showed 108 children had not been allocated a child protection worker, a figure that represents 14 per cent of the 750 children on Child Protection’s books in south-west Wimmera.
The crisis is particularly acute in Horsham, where 54 children out of 120 cases had no case manager. Seven of the 12 investigation and response positions in the regional city were vacant last month; and nine of 13 case management positions were vacant.
Community and Public Sector Union industrial officer Magda Akkerman said child protection workers lived with the constant anxiety of children being harmed.
“The bottom line is that they [the department] can’t recruit staff,” she said.
“Across the state’s child protection offices, there are about 2600 positions and about 600 are empty, and the rural areas are in particular crisis. Places like Hamilton have eight positions and two are filled. They just can’t get people to move there and if they move there, they don’t stay long.”
Revelations of the staff shortage comes as State Coroner John Cain investigates a “filicide cluster” of four children and young people who were known to Child Protection when they were killed.
Barrister Erin Gardiner, counsel for Child Protection, told the inquest last month it was increasingly difficult to find professionals to work in a sector characterised by long hours, high caseloads and challenging conditions.
According to the leaked document, titled Change Proposal, the Horsham, Hamilton and Portland offices have not been fully staffed for two years.
The report proposes to create new investigations and case-management teams based in Warrnambool and establish a new “flexible second team” to focus on “progressing permanency” on cases, including closing cases. These workers would be required to focus on Horsham initially.
The changes would be implemented by April 17.
A spokesman for the department did not respond to specific questions about the difficulties in attracting and retaining Child Protection staff but said: “We assure the community there will be no changes to services provided to them.
“All children involved with Child Protection are assigned to a team overseen by a team manager who has overall responsibility for reviewing, monitoring and managing cases within their team, including allocation decisions.”
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