DOCS: scandalous government neglect

by Jules Andrews

The NSW Government has come under fire in a damning report saying it is 
failing to protect neglected and abused children. Unionists working for the 
Department of Community Services (DOCS) say the report vindicates their 
claim that they are understaffed and under stress.

An alarming rise in suspected child abuse reports is not being met by a 
corresponding rise in resources and management support for staff to handle 
them, the NSW Ombudsman has found.

The extent of the crisis is revealed in figures that tell of a 75 percent 
rise in suspected child abuse reports in just six months, with the hotline 
already fielding 130,000 calls a year. In 2001, five babies who were "known 
to DOCS" died while waiting for staff to take action.

Tabled in Parliament last week, Ombudsman Bruce Barbour's report said that 
evidence presented to him during the compilation of the report was so 
damning that it "places a cloud over the effectiveness of DOCS to provide 
comprehensive protection to children and young people".

The Public Service Association (PSA), which represents the Department's 
workers, says the report also recognises the efforts of DOCS staff in face 
of this titanic situation.

"It is not enough that DOCS's officers are committed and well-intentioned. 
Without the right systems, records and support, appropriate child 
protection intervention becomes as much a matter of good luck as good 
management", says the report.

One example of the Departments' failure to support staff is found in the 
12-year-old client database system.

In 1999 the Department contracted a private IT company to design and 
install a new system. The project was a fiasco, and terminating the 
contract cost the Government a small fortune. A new system is now not 
expected until at least next year.

The PSA has been stressing the need for urgent action since April last year 
when they began taking industrial action and publicly criticised DOCS 
senior management — Director General, Carmel Niland, and the Minister Faye 
Lo Po.

At that time the union protested that Staff were overworked, insufficiently 
trained and unable to cope with the massive increase in workload.

The Ombudsman's report now concurs with each of those claims.

PSA General Secretary Maurie O'Sullivan said senior management had 
constantly failed to accept responsibility for the crisis, and instead 
reacted in "constant blame shifting".

"Whenever anything goes wrong senior management will blame the caseworkers 
and more recently blamed victims relatives and even Children's' Court 
Magistrates," said Mr O'Sullivan.

In response to the report, Premier Bob Carr announced that DOCS would once 
again be "reorganised" to give a more effective service.

Carr also questioned the extent of the crisis, saying he "can't believe" 
there would be such a massive increase in reports, and suggests the problem 
might lay with how the statistics are collected.

However, Mr Carr has not yet has indicated whether there will be an 
increase in funding or staffing levels.

The NSW DOCS fiasco is evidence of how economic rationalism, foisted on 
Australia by both Liberal and Labor governments, has torn at the fabric of 
family life.

The tremendous financial strain and hardship on the growing underclass of 
Australians is one of the main contributing factors to the growing domestic 
violence crisis in this country.

State and Federal Governments then cite "budget constraints" when failing 
to allocate sufficient resources to assist those families. They work on the 
principle of "the community's needs must fit within the budget", rather 
than "we will finance the budget in a way that meets the community's 
needs".

As an example: Even as the DOCS report lay fresh on the table, NSW 
Parliamentarians this week voted themselves a 1000 per cent increase in 
their electoral mail allowances.

This blatant rort will certainly reduce the election-year campaign expenses 
of the Labor Party, which has the vast majority of MPs in NSW.

These "letters to constituents" will then no doubt be used to make grand 
announcements of the channelling of those much needed funds into wasteful 
budget pork-barrelling.