Child staff burning out

VICTORIA’S child protection system is so under-resourced it would take $352 million a year over four years to fix case worker shortages.

Case workers were so stressed by workloads and inadequate organisational support in 2016/17, half of WorkCover claims were related to mental health, a Victorian Auditor General report shows.

“(Department of Health and Human Services) is not meeting its obligation to ensure that (child protection practitioners) are maintaining good mental health,” the report released yesterday said.