Reports and reviews of child protection services are easy to come by, but the numbers suggest that not enough changes are being made to address even some of the most confronting findings.

Several reviews in NSW’s child protection services have found that Aboriginal children remain overrepresented in care, and workers under-resourced and overstressed and the latest is a scathing report by the Office of the Children's Guardian. 

Secretary of the Public Service Association (PSA) - the union body that child protection workers fall within - Troy Wright said that there are various recommendations from reports that are yet to be implemented, and the gaps are showing.

“A generation of Aboriginal children are currently being lost in a system that needs proper investment and reform - but the latest report says that’s not happening,” Mr Wright said.

On 30 June 2021, 43% (6,829) of the children and young people in out-of-home care in NSW were Aboriginal, an increase from 41.4% (6,688) from the year earlier. (NSW Budget Estimates 2020-21). 

"Nationally, NSW accounts for a third of all Aboriginal children in care. They are over represented in our child protection system and it is a crisis," said Mr Wright.

The PSA made an urgent call for 1000 extra child protection workers to fill a demand that isn’t being met. 

According to a 2020 report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 42% of children in out-of-home care in Australia were from inner and outer regional areas, far disproportionate to the population density difference in urban areas. 

While the extra workers are only being called for in NSW, the demand is likely just as necessary in regional NSW as much as metro, given in 2016-17, Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) reported that the rate of children and young people in out-of-home care in Western NSW more than doubled the state average. 

It is difficult to gauge the current necessity within Western NSW, with current figures unavailable.

According to a DCJ spokesperson, many measures have been taken to address reports, including the notorious Family is Culture Review from 2019.

“Nearly all 3,000 recommendations from the Family is Culture review that related to individual case files have been completed,” the DCJ spokesperson said.

“The NSW Government also continues to strengthen permanency outcomes, with more than twice as many Aboriginal children exiting to guardianship in NSW in 2020-21 compared to 2017-18.

While those numbers doubled, so too did the amount of Aboriginal young people going into care across the state, with an increase of almost 200 since the previous year. 

“Nationally, NSW accounts for a third of all Aboriginal children in care. They are over represented in our child protection system and it is a crisis,” Mr Wright said. 

“Yet despite this we know caseworkers are only seeing a third (29%) of kids at risk of serious harm . We need 1,000 more case workers to meet demand,” he said. 

The PSA claims that these needs can’t be met with the privatisation of the sector, with the increasing reliance on out-of-home care foster placements undertaken through external providers leading to ‘price gouging, cherry picking for clients and a lack of accountability’.

"We want social workers and case workers working with families who need help, not negotiating contracts with unaccountable, untransparent private providers."