More caseworkers needed for Hunter Community Services

BY SARAH BARONOWSKI

State Member for Wallsend, Sonia Hornery welcomes news of an extra 42 caseworker positions being made available in Community Services but says these numbers aren't enough to get the job done.

State Member for Wallsend, Sonia Hornery

Her concerns follow a recent report which shows a 60% increase in the number of caseworker vacancies across the Hunter with a further 68% of children reporting to Family and Community Services not receiving face-to-face assessments.

Sonia Hornery says thousands of children are at risk of serious harm if they are not seen by a caseworker.

"For the 11,900 children that are at risk in the Hunter and New England area, there should be none of those children who are waiting long periods of time to get a face-to-face appointment with a qualified case manager," she said.

"That should happen within days instead of taking weeks or months or even years."

She says these caseworker positions need to be allocated to the Hunter to ensure those at risk are made a priority.

"We are jeopardising the health of our children by not making sure that we appoint all of the caseworker position vacancies back into the Hunter. In the Hunter/New England region more than 11, 900 children at risk of serious harm were not seen. These figures are the worst in the state."

According to Sonia Hornery, the State Government and the Minister for Family and Community Services are not taking this issue seriously.

"I don't think the government's been really serious about making sure that they've filled these vacancy positions all over NSW. One can only say that that's about saving money. This should be a commitment, a number one commitment about children safety for the State Government and the Family and Community Services Minister should be taking this matter much more seriously than she is."

Vacant child worker positions in the Hunter a cause for concern

BY TYLER FARDELL and JESSICA ROUSE

There's a call for the Minister for Family and Community Services to fill a large number of vacant child case worker positions in the Hunter.

Recent figures show a 60 per cent increase in the number of vacant caseworker positions, and 68 per cent of children reported to Family and Community Services were not receiving a face to face assessment.

Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery is leading the charge, saying too many vulnerable children are being ignored after $180 million was cut and 110 full-time positions were taken away in 2014.

"I understand that in the Hunter there are about 20 vacancies, which is about 8 per cent of the workforce, so 20 vacancies in the Hunter is a huge amount and it's basically fundamentally about cost cutting so we desperately need all of those case worker positions to be filled," said Sonia Hornery.

Family and Community Services has responded to claims the Hunter is struggling with a lack of caseworkers.

In a statement the service said:

More children than ever before who are at risk of significant harm (ROSH) receive a face-to-face assessment from a FACS caseworker. Caseworkers now see one in three children at ROSH compared to one in five children just six years ago. In some districts, FACS staff are managing to see one in two children. 

Caseworker recruitment is on-going with a focus on educating the community and prospective caseworkers about the role and the important work caseworkers do in the community.