Child workers buckle under the pressure

Child workers buckle under the pressure
Paul Bibby
November 18, 2010
Brisbane Times

Australia- CASE WORKERS are leaving the Department of Community Services in droves, propelled by the intense and constant pressure of dealing with brutal child abuse and neglect cases while more fulfilling work is farmed out to the non-government sector.

As the NSW Auditor-General revealed yesterday that Community Services was suffering from a shortage of nearly 500 case workers, four staff spoke to the Herald about the conditions that cause burnout and leave job ads unanswered.

''We're dealing with families which have an incredibly wide range of complex problems,'' said one case worker, who asked not to be named, ''and you're trying to figure out which issue is the most serious because you simply can't deal with all of them.
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''There's often just no time to really talk to the family about all of their issues. I was talking to someone … at an office in western Sydney that should have 50 or 60 staff but they had three trained case workers. That is just immense pressure.''

The case worker to child ratio at DOCS has blown out to one to 29, more than double that recommended by the 2008 Wood commission report.

At the same time case workers have been watching as the NSW government - following the Wood commission's recommendations - continues to transfer responsibility for foster care, out-of-home care and other programs to charities and church organisations.  FULL STORY
 
I think just about everybody is done with the utterly insane CPS