Cuts to more than 80 child protection jobs statewide have done little to instil confidence in Illawarra Community Services staff fighting for adequate resources, the workers' union says.
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The Public Service Association of NSW has spoken of its outrage after the state budget, released on June 23, revealed 82 statutory child protection jobs would go.
The move comes after caseworkers in offices across the state, including Coniston, walked off the job in March to fight what they claim is inadequately resourced child protection.
The PSA says the government's own figures show an increase in children reported as being at "risk of significant harm", with only one in four getting a face-to-face response from Community Services.
"We can't afford to lose any frontline child protection jobs, we know already that far too many children who are at-risk are not being seen," PSA Illawarra regional organiser Tony Heathwood said.
"We've certainly got issues in the area that need to be addressed and need to be resourced properly."
Acting PSA general secretary Steve Turner said the government was "making a desperate situation worse".
Mr Turner said the union's concern was they "just don't know where those numbers will be falling from".
"The budget has a footnote that says this will not be frontline staff [facing cuts], but for every non-caseworker that is not in a job, a caseworker has to come off the frontline to do that work," he said.
"It's shocking news because here [in the Illawarra] the workers have been raising their concerns about the fall in numbers and yet the budget shows it's going to get worse."
Opposition spokeswoman for family and community services Tania Mihailuk said the NSW Ombudsman's Report of Reviewable Deaths in 2012 and 2013 found "the statutory child protection system is struggling to meet the demands placed on it".
"This report adds another voice to the growing call to improve the services meant to protect defenceless children - and address the crisis in our state's child protection system," she said.
A spokeswoman for Minister for Family and Community Services Brad Hazzard said children needing care and protection were "an absolute priority for the NSW government within FACS' $6.1 billion budget".
"Frontline staff have been quarantined from efficiency savings and FACS is actively recruiting more frontline staff. The government has also funded $26 million over four years to create 73 new caseworker support positions," the spokeswoman said.