A child protection caseworker was brought close to tears on Wednesday as she described the impossible decisions her Northern Rivers colleagues were having to make in allocating resources to help vulnerable families.
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Sue Nichols was amongst dozens of caseworkers from Lismore and Ballina who walked off the job on Wednesday to protest outside the former Zadoc St office of the Community Services Centre.
Offices in Lismore and Ballina were closed because of damage caused by the February 2022 flood. But the staff say the failure to find fit premises from which to work in the two years since the disaster was a symptom of a broader crisis in the department.
Child protection caseworkers report chronic understaffing and staff burnout.
One in four child protection caseworker positions were unfilled in the Northern Rivers. That means the Lismore centre was 10 child protection caseworkers short, the highest vacancy rate in the state.
The Public Service Association says this lack of resources means five in six children reported to authorities on the Northern Rivers as at risk of serious harm were not being seen by a child protection caseworker.
It says that is the worst response rate in the state, well below the state average of three in four.
Ms Nichols said it was a terrible thing to see children who are at risk of serious harm not receiving the help they should get to stay in their home.
Her colleague Maxine Stuart, a senior caseworker, said without early intervention and support by child protection caseworkers, children deemed at risk of serious harm would likely be removed from their family.
"A group of managers have to sift through all the reports - that's hundreds a month - and try and find a way that we can support that family."
Ms Stuart said staff didn't have the capacity to deal with all of the cases, and some had to be closed.
"We have to live with those closures," Ms Stuart said.
"We are underpaid, over worked and undervalued. The work we do is so complex and we don't feel valued," she said.
Ultimately, she said, it was the families who would be impacted the most by not addressing staff shortages.
The industrial campaign in Lismore was part of a broader campaign calling on the NSW government to act to save thousands of at-risk kids from further harm.
The Public Service Association, says action will commence with a series of rolling campaign rallies across the state and escalate as necessary.
Child protection caseworkers are demanding Minister Kate Washington and the NSW Government immediately recruit another 500 caseworkers, give caseworkers an immediate and substantial pay rise, and de-privatise foster care.
Premier Chris Minns needs to intervene, PSA Assistant General Secretary Troy Wright said.
"The most vulnerable children in New South Wales are at risk of serious harm, or even worse, because child protection caseworkers are chronically understaffed, exhausted and management just aren't listening to their concerns," Mr Wright said.
