Child safety falling behind

Queensland’s child safety department has more than 1100 investigations unresolved for more than 100 days, with the amount of cases exploding in the past several years.

News Corp can reveal hundreds of cases scattered across the state remain open months after they were received, with the department receiving more than 10,000 additional child safety notifications than it did in 2015.

The department pointed the finger at Covid, telling News Corp the pandemic had a significant impact on the child protection system, and placed additional pressure on already vulnerable families.

“This resulted in an increased demand for investigations and assessments. The complex nature of these investigations and assessments means our child safety staff are working more intensively and for longer with families,” a spokeswoman said.

“Child safety officers continue to prioritise the most urgent cases, with (about) 93 per cent of cases with a 24-hour priority starting on time.

“Cases not finalised within 100 days are monitored and additional information gathered and, if circumstances change, appropriate action is taken.”

The number of cases per worker had also risen past the government’s own benchmark, with each case worker now juggling 16 cases at a time.

News Corp spoke to several staff – who asked not to be identified - within the department, all of who agreed workload challenges were a consistent issue.

One said the department had seen an influx of cases in the past several years, but also said staff were increasingly being left “burnt-out” and at their “wits end” over cases piling up.

“You are often left feeling like you don’t get enough time on each case,” she said.