‘Broken’ system: NSW foster and out-of-home care state children ‘hungry and cold’ as providers paid ‘exorbitant’ fees

Two boys missed school because of hunger, no uniforms, and not enough carers after a privatised service asked for $18,096 a week to care for them, then subcontracted the care for $160 a week.

Young man with hands clasped together

Foster children are going hungry while non-government agencies charge “exorbitant” fees to care for them under a “broken” state care system, the Public Service Association says.

The union is calling for the hiring of 1000 more caseworkers, an overhaul of caseworker training and a possible Royal Commission into the NSW foster care system if things don’t improve.

It comes in the wake of damning revelations about the situation involving two young boys, given the court names of Finn, 13, and Lincoln Hughes, 11, who the NSW Children’s Court heard were skipping school because of hunger and lacking winter uniforms and an inadequate number of workers caring for them.

That’s despite their private out of care home provider requesting $18,096 a week to care for them – and yet subcontracting out the care to another provider for just $160 a week.

PSA assistant general secretary Troy Wright said privatising the providers of state care had resulted in insufficient carers “which means we end up with many children in hotels supervised by youth workers for up to 12 months”.

Concerns are being raised about the outsourcing of caring for wards of the state in NSW.

He also said in some NSW districts more than 84 per cent of new caseworkers leave the department within two years “because the department is so dysfunctional and toxic”.

‘GRAFTING’ THE TAXPAYER

“It is a sick irony in the case of Finn and Lincoln Hughes we have an accredited out-of-home-care non-government agency grafting the NSW taxpayer and the system for exorbitant expenses with poor outcomes, but meanwhile the public sector agency that should be delivering all of the service and is left with the bulk of the work, and is refused accreditation because of under-resourcing.

“Premier Perrottet needs to explain how a non-government provider could be billing taxpayers $18,096 a week to look after these two vulnerable boys and yet they don’t have a winter school uniform and complain to their teachers they are hungry?

“The high costs and poor outcomes identified in the case of Finn and Lincoln Hughes are repeated all over the state every day, what these kids need is action, not more words.”

“These two boys aged 11 and 13 are among over 16,000 kids in a state care system which is clearly broken.”

Troy Wright, assistant General Secretary of Public Service Association, says 1000 more case workers are urgently needed to deal with the number of vulnerable children in NSW. Picture: AAP Image

He said before privatisation, case workers from the Department of Communities and Justice placed vulnerable children directly with carers, but now those same caseworkers don’t have contact with foster parents directly.

CALL FOR ROYAL COMMISSION

The union wants a Royal Commission “no matter which party wins at the March election” — if no more than “Band-Aid solutions” are forthcoming.

In some areas of NSW there are less than half the amount of caseworkers required “because the department can’t find people to do the job”, Mr Wright said.

“In some districts, caseworkers are months behind doing their risk of harm checks as they just don’t have the people to do them,” he said.

“Meanwhile the caseworkers are being held accountable by the department but they no longer have the tools to do their job as the tools have been outsourced.

Families and Communities Minister Natasha Maclaren-Jones has asked the watchdog body, the Office of the Children’s Guardian, to look into the “adequacy of current oversight arrangements” for placements like Finn and Lincoln Hughs and the department has also asked former National Children’s Commissioner Megan Mitchell to conduct a review.

Ms Maclaren-Jones commended the caseworker involved in the Finn and Lincoln case for coming forward to detail concerns. She said the case was an “isolated one”.

She also said the government was actively recruiting caseworkers, that vacancy rates were low and that they had introduced wellness programs for staff.

“We know there is a general shortage of caseworkers across the whole of Australia which is why we have focused on recruiting more caseworkers,” she said.

She NSW had the lowest number of children in out-of-home care of all states, “and the number does continue to go down” because of the work being done with families and early intervention.

The length of stay of children being put up in motels and serviced apartments has “reduced significantly” she said, with 76 per cent exiting within 90 days.