Only 15 per cent of Hunter's 18,400 kids in need are seen by a caseworker

"YOU'VE got a thousand kids standing on the edge of a cliff, they're all jumping off, and you've got only 60 people to catch them." That's the child protection system, according to a frontline Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) caseworker.

"If I could keep my kid alive until they were 18, that was a win," the caseworker said.

The most traumatised children, who have no capacity to develop relationships cannot get access to services. These children are often suffering mental health issues and are self-medicating with drugs and/or alcohol.

"So they are not developing any skills, they're not going to school ... they're doing what they like," the caseworker said.

Treatment for mental health or drug and alcohol issues had to be voluntary, and fall into only one category, the caseworker said.

"So they don't belong in either one, they are co-dependent on both, but that's the way these kids are dealing with their trauma ... so they're not going anywhere."

In many cases, these children are being moved through multiple placements.

Caseworkers have agreed to speak to the Newcastle Herald on the condition they are not named.

Their stories are backed by DCJ statistics, as well as reports from experts and authorities from across the child protection sector.

Statistics for the last quarter of 2022-23 reveal that, of the 14,723 children in out of home care (OOHC) throughout the state, 5195, or 35 per cent, have been moved three or more times.

"There are so many barriers as to why you can't do something. The kids self place, they remove themselves from placements, and then you've got a 16-year-old moved in with just randoms who smoke pot.

"It's got worse over the years because of how much is expected of caseworkers now ... and the focus on meeting standards."

To meet standards, some managers are "just papering" over cases, the frontline worker said.

The statistics themselves are misleading, the worker says, because of the focus on numbers - how many kids are seen.

"Because of that focus on the numbers, they might send someone out to visit a family with six kids, even if it wasn't a serious report, but they can say they've seen more kids, and they will ignore a more serious report where it only is relevant to one child."

Misleading or not, the figures have spiralled to record lows.

The latest figures, which DCJ reports quarterly, show that during the 2022-23 financial year there were more than 18,400 children reported as being at risk of significant harm in the Hunter district.

Of those, less than 3000 were seen by a caseworker, or 15 per cent, the lowest since those statistics have been publicly reported.

That was a decrease of nearly 42 per cent when compared to the same quarter in the previous year.

Risk of significant harm reports, known as ROSH reports, involve suspicions of physical or sexual abuse, neglect, violence or serious emotional harm.

So those figures do not include the thousands of other "concern reports" made about children with issues deemed less serious.

By June 30, 2023, across the state, nearly one third (32.8 per cent) of children and young people were re-reported at ROSH within 12 months of their case being closed.

The number of children in NSW being seen by a caseworker is significantly higher than in the Hunter, currently sitting at 25 per cent.

There appears to be no straight forward answer as to why the situation in the Hunter is so dire.

Since picking up the portfolio earlier this year, the NSW Minister for Family and Communities and Port Stephens MP Kate Washington has visited DCJ offices throughout the state, including in the Hunter, to hear from caseworkers.

"Caseworker vacancies are an enormous issue and impacting on what people can do, that is without question a significant issue across the board and a high priority," she said.

"Unfortunately, the Hunter DCJ district has faced significant challenges in retaining staff and therefore their ability to respond to ROSH reports in a time that's acceptable.

"Many of the caseworkers in the Hunter are new which has affected the number of assessments they've been able to undertake.

"The unfair wages cap imposed by the previous government on the public sector saw experienced caseworkers walking out the door. That's why we've removed the wages cap so we can tackle caseworker vacancies and start valuing these essential workers.

"Child protection caseworkers are essential, frontline staff. Their work is complex and challenging, they deserve to be supported in their critical roles protecting vulnerable children."

"We'll also be reforming the child protection system, so caseworkers are supported to give vulnerable families the help they need and deserve."

It can't some quickly enough, according to another caseworker who approached the Herald.

On too many occasions, a caseworker says, level one cases, which are the most serious, are closed before anything is done, due to "competing priorities".

"They've looked at it, they've gone, 'oh, we've got a level one. We're going to put it over here now because we can't get to it'.

"Closed. Case closed, not even deferred ... and there's hundreds."

The actual figures, obtained exclusively by the Herald, reveal that in 2022-23, there were 8737 children in the Hunter whose ROSH reports were closed due to "no capacity to allocate".

Of them, more than 7600 (87 per cent) had more than one ROSH report.

The options for children reported to DCJ other than a face-to-face assessment are referral to a local support service or "take no further action".

Technically, "take no further action" might mean that sufficient support is already in place, there is not enough information to confirm risk of significant harm, or there is no capacity to allocate.

"These ROSH reports have been assessed as less concerning than those that have been prioritised for assessment or referral," DCJ says.

According to one caseworker, priority is given to very young children - babies and infants, appropriately, but then there is a big gap for the children aged between four and 12 who "get no service at all".

When they turn 13, they start getting noticed, the worker said.

"They're getting locked up ... or acting out in a visible way."

Along with academics, childrens' advocates, judges, experts, and families, the caseworker says there needs to be a greater emphasis on helping families and children to manage at home.

The system is judging families, but not helping them, the caseworker said, bringing in people with "a certain set of values", unrealistic expectations, and a lack of lived experience, training and support, to make judgement calls not necessarily in the children's best interests.

"I can walk into a house where things are being thrown around, kids are smashing stuff, mum's yelling, and my offsider will say, 'We are going to have to take these kids'. No. This is normal for them. This is home.

"You take them from this, and you put them somewhere foreign, which is most often with strangers, 20-year-olds that are - and it's not their fault - studying, and who don't understand - but they're comfortable here. This is what they know.

"We put middle class values on these people who haven't got $2 to rub together and never will. And that's the core of it.

"You could make a lot of difference, for a fraction of the cost. You put 24-hour care in there with the family, and help them sort their shit out. And most of them are open to it. There's about ten per cent that you can't engage. We just need to send the money into the home."

Otherwise, in a few years' time when the notion of restoration (returning them home) is raised, caseworkers revisit the home to find nothing's changed.

"During that time they have not seen a caseworker, or a social worker, or anybody. And now they're supposed to manage with a traumatised teenager."