Government Lies; Half of WA’s Child Protection Caseworkers Have Been Told to Cover-Up Numbers
CRAIG PARR ON 6PR MORNINGS
MEDIA STATEMENT
Evidence of cover-ups and dishonest reporting will be discussed at a Parliamentary Committee hearing for Public Affairs today.
A CPSU/CSA Union survey reports 48% of nearly 200 caseworkers at DCP, have been asked to reduce the number of vulnerable children they are allocated before their required data reporting days.
As a maximum, caseworkers in WA should have 15 children to look after. But because the number of children in DCP care has doubled in the past seven years, caseworkers are at breaking point – often having between 16 and 18 cases.
Come data day, caseworkers are being asked to move any cases over their “maximum 15” to the monitored list for data recording each month. Other caseworkers see their cases directly edited by management without their consent.
These incorrect statistics are then quoted in Parliament and used to measure safe workload – a key safeguard in the Department to prevent the neglect of at-risk children in care.
Currently WA has over 4600 children in care, and over 600 waiting for a caseworker on the monitored list.
One caseworker quoted;
‘They magically get moved around so my team leader doesn't get into trouble. Management want things to look nice, so they don’t have to explain to the executive that we are drowning.’
A second caseworker backed up the claims telling the Union;
‘As I had too many cases against my name, two of my cases were moved to be under a different Case workers name to ensure that I only had 15 against my name. However, I am still required to complete Case Management tasks for the cases that were moved’
‘I am not asked but I know (and everyone is aware) that team leaders are pressured to reallocate cases before data day to make it look like the workload is not as great’
MORE INFORMATION:
Gemma Walsh,
Media Liaison
W: 9323 3855 / M: 0421 934 794
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