Child Protection Department

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (14:53): To the Minister for Child Protection: could the minister please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is creating job opportunities that make an impact on our community through investment in frontline staffing within the Department for Child Protection?

The Hon. R. SANDERSON (Adelaide—Minister for Child Protection) (14:53): I thank the member for Chaffey for his question, and I can say that one of my top priorities when I became a minister in 2018 was to ensure that we recruited more staff to fill the long-held vacancies and ensure that our staff felt supported by the work they do. On coming into government, there were 279 vacancies across the Department for Child Protection, many in critical frontline positions. I am very proud of the work we have undertaken and the dramatic turnaround we have seen in this number.

In the month of June 2021, the variance to budget was down to just 60 positions, and that is not including the 24 new FTEs that we have in residential care who started last month. To achieve this reduction in vacancies, we introduced the broadening of qualifications policy, which uses a multidisciplinary approach when recruiting for case management roles in frontline service delivery.

While social work remains the primary qualification for child protection practitioners, we recruit professionals with a variety of skills and qualifications in health, justice and social sciences. Because of this, and our focus on continuous recruitment, we have seen an additional 299 FTEs employed in service delivery and practice roles compared to March 2018, and 57 of these were new FTEs in professional offices and engaged in case management roles under the new broadening of qualifications and 242 were additional social workers as AHPs.

In our residential care facilities in the last financial year to 30 June 2021, the department recruited 136 new residential care staff, including in the regional centres of Whyalla and Mount Gambier. As I mentioned earlier, we also have 24 new FTEs who started last month in our residential care facilities, and this impressive intake is possible because of the new approach we adopted in late 2020.

This approach streamlines recruitment and training using assessment centres to conduct group assessments providing certificate IV training through TAFE, and conducting rolling recruitment of new staff. Our recruitment will continue throughout 2021, and our next bulk intake is scheduled for October 2021.

I would like to thank all DCP staff for the important work they do. Since becoming minister, I have made it my priority to make myself accessible to staff within DCP. I continue to visit DCP offices and frequently meet with staff at social events planned for carers or children in care.

I want every staff member to be engaged and supported in their roles. The improvements we have seen recently in the I Work For SA survey are a testament to this focus. There is always more work to do, but I am confident that we are working hard to ensure that every vacancy is filled.