The New South Wales child protection sector is losing more caseworkers than it is employing. The union has launched a month of action calling on the state government to fix staff shortages or continue to put vulnerable children at risk.
"Children say to us, 'you're caseworker number 24'," said Public Service Association delegate and caseworker Nin Bennett."After two months, three months, they say, 'so, how much longer are you going to stick around?' and when you leave that visit, your heart absolutely shatters."
"Right now, we have such a high caseload that it simply is impossible to do meaningful work every single day." "I basically grew up in the system, not knowing who my mum was or the chance to grow up on Country. It was a really lonely and challenging upbringing," he said. Isaiah says he found "purpose in his wounds". This is how he's breaking stereotypes and changing the lives of young Aboriginal children living in foster care.He said this experience was the motivation behind ID Know Yourself, an Aboriginal-led mentoring service for First Nations children removed from their families who live in out-of-home care.
But with staff burnout contributing to the high turnover of caseworkers, Isaiah said there was an important role Aboriginal community-controlled organisations can play to reduce this."They need organisations like ours to help alleviate these stresses and to be able to provide that holistic wraparound support.
The union is calling for the state government to fix understaffing by providing better pay incentives and work to actively recruit 500 caseworkers.The PSA's General Secretary Stewart Little criticised the role of non-government organisations and said that the privatisation of the child-protection sector was a key contributor to staffing issues, particularly in regional areas.
Out Of Home Care First Nations Children Caseworker
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