NSW Communities and Justice face maladministration investigation over handling of kids at risk of harm
The Department of Communities and Justice will face a “maladministration investigation” by the NSW Ombudsman over its handling of vulnerable children at risk of significant harm.
NSW
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The Department of Communities and Justice will face a “maladministration investigation” by the NSW Ombudsman over its handling of vulnerable children at risk of significant harm.
A damning review by NSW Ombudsman boss Paul Miller has uncovered a litany of issues plaguing the department’s handling of children’s cases, which found the department “cannot demonstrate that it is meeting any of its three core child protection responsibilities”.
Following the release of the findings against the government department, The NSW Ombudsman confirmed it has “commenced a maladministration investigation into the conduct of DCJ in responding to reports of children at risk of significant harm”.
In a landmark “special review” handed down this month, the ombudsman found 32,721 children were reported to be at risk of sexual abuse in their homes, while 45,556 children were reported to be facing physical abuse in the 2022-23 financial year.
A total of 46,565 children were reported to be at risk of neglect, while 35,082 children across the state were reportedly facing domestic violence or coward attacks in the homes.
The report also found a massive 84,810 children reported to be at risk of significant harm were not seen by a DCJ caseworker.
In March, The Sunday Telegraph revealed an estimated 19,000 cases were closed with “unresolved safety or risk issues”.
“DCJ does not record, collect, or report sufficient information about its response to all children who are reported at risk of significant harm to determine what child protection services or support – if any – they receive, whether they are safe or at risk, and whether DCJ complies with its statutory obligations to assess and respond to children reported,” Mr Miller said. “DCJ was unable to provide data to show that the most urgent and/or serious cases receive the most immediate and appropriate response.
“Nor could it provide data showing what, if any, support was provided to each of the 84,810 children reported at ROSH who were not provided a face-to-face caseworker response.”
The investigation by the NSW Ombudsman also uncovered children being housed in “caravans” and “cabins”, with damning findings revealing 24 children in “alternative care arrangements” were reported missing.
“We obtained unpublished data from DCJ on numbers of children in alternative care arrangements (ACAs) for each year from 2020-21 to 2022-23,” Mr Miller said. “The data … shows over two thirds of children in ACAs were in serviced apartments or rental properties and close to a third in hotels, motels, caravan parks or other types of accommodation.”
The ombudsman’s investigation also found children leaving the foster care system were being placed into dangerous guardianship and kinship care, with a rise in the number of kids returned to “guardianship” carers “subsequently reported at risk of significant harm”.
“The risk of significant harm data suggests a clear need for more information and analysis about the reasons why an increasing number of children on guardianship are reported at ROSH after they enter guardianship,” he said. “In 2022-23 of the 91 per cent of children on guardianship orders reported at ROSH who were triaged … to be seen by a caseworker, 706 children, two thirds, 459 children, were not seen by a caseworker.”
Families and Communities Minister Kate Washington – who has overseen the portfolio since the Minns government came to power in March last year – said the findings of the NSW Ombudsman’s report “confirm everything we’ve been saying since we came into government - that the child protection system is in need of significant structural reform”.
In May the NSW government established an urgent review of the foster care system, with a report expected to be completed by December.
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