Child Safety Townsville: Almost 20 per cent job roles unfilled amid ongoing staffing concerns

Almost one in five of Townsville’s child safety officer positions remain unfilled amid ongoing concerns about statewide vacancy rates and care home management.

Almost 20 per cent of Townsville’s child safety officer positions remain unfilled amid ongoing concerns about statewide vacancy rates and care home management.

The Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs recently revealed about 84 per cent of child safety officer positions in Townsville were currently filled.

The new data comes after it was revealed the average tenure for a child safety officer in Queensland had fallen to less than six years.

“We are currently working to fill a small number of positions,” a spokeswoman said.

“Like many regions, Townsville is experiencing very low unemployment and a tight rental market, both of which affect our ability to recruit and retain staff.

“We continue to undertake a range of recruitment activities and strategies to encourage suitably qualified Queenslanders to pursue a career as a child safety officer.”

Opposition Child Protection spokesman Amanda Camm. Picture: Liam Kidston

Opposition Child Protection spokesman Amanda Camm has raised concerns that high turnover rates across the state left too much room for error and no consistency of oversight to ensure children were protected.

“The risk is children will fall through the cracks,” she said.

It comes after Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill recently raised concerns about how care homes were being managed in the city at a hearing into Queensland’s new youth justice legislation.

“I’m hearing in horror stories in some of the suburbs around some of the care homes where children will be placed there (after detention), and there is nothing to restrain them,” she said.

“They get their mobile phones back, they ring their mates, and they’re off on their next jaunt.”

“Some of these care facilities, it’s my belief, aren’t managed very well. They are managed externally from Sydney or Melbourne and it’s more about profit making than about caring for kids.”

Residential care services in Townsville generally support up to three or four young people with moderate to extreme needs in the one home, according to the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs.

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill raised concerns about care homes at a hearing into the state government’s new youth justice legislation. Picture: Shae Beplate.

“Qualified staff are rostered to provide care, supervision and therapeutic supports to keep highly vulnerable young people safe and well,” a spokeswoman said.

“Residential care placements are only arranged when the preferred placement options of kinship or foster care are unavailable, or if it is the best option to meet the young person’s individual needs.

“We are increasing the number of family-based care arrangements, including foster and kinship care, and are working with community-controlled organisations to grow kinship care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.”

Originally published as Child Safety Townsville: Almost 20 per cent job roles unfilled amid ongoing staffing concerns