Gippsland children in out-of-home care are left out of important decisions about their futures because case workers are swamped with paperwork, a study finds.
"There's a big gap between what is there, enshrined in legislation and embedded in policy, and what is actually possible and practical on the ground.
"[Children in care] are supposed to be seen between every week to every two weeks, and certainly on the whole that's not regularly happening at all, and there are anecdotal stories about kids just not being seen full stop before the major decisions are being made about them." Sale's Heather Baird grew up as a ward of the state and runs A Better Life for Foster Kids in Gippsland, which provides clothing, toys, and support to foster families."Kids very rarely, unless they're playing up, see a child protection worker. It's as simple as that," Ms Baird said."I've heard of kids who have gone for five years without seeing a case worker.
Her study found, while paperwork was a large contributor to the severe lack of face-to-face contact between case workers and kids in care, there were many other factors at play."There are crisis levels of placement instability because of the shortage of carers coupled with the rise of kids coming into care and the shortage of beds in the region."
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