Ms ROSOL – I’ll move on to some other questions now. I’ve got some questions about child safety services and out‑of‑home care. How many –
Mr JAENSCH – Don’t feel neglected.
Ms ROSOL – You’ve had a good run. How many positions in the child safety service and ARL are currently occupied, and how many are currently vacant?
Mr JAENSCH – Are you able to speak to that one?
Ms ROSOL – There’s kind of two questions there.
Mr JAENSCH – I’ll ask Ms Lovell to respond to that. We will just date stamp this answer as well, because there’s recruiting underway right now and these figures could be quite different within a few days.
Ms BURGESS – I wonder, minister, whether you wanted to cover the breakdown of Community Youth Justice before you move to – or do you want to wait till the end?
Ms ROSOL – I’d prefer it if I could get an answer to my questions on child safety services.
Mr JAENSCH – We won’t miss you. Sorry, keep going, Ms Rosol. I’ll ask Ms Lovell to respond to you. We’ll come back to those other justice numbers just now.
Ms C. LOVELL – For statewide, we have 104.9 child safety officer positions for the Child Safety Service, that’s budget FTE, and 78.3 other. We have 183.2 positions in the Child Safety Service, and 191.6 of those are occupied.
Ms ROSOL – Can you say that again, please? I don’t know if my brain’s not working, but you said there are 183.2 positions, but 191.6 of them are occupied?
Ms C. LOVELL – Yes, that’s right because we’re over our establishment at the moment with our support roles. The youth workers, the non‑child safety officer positions – we’ve employed a lot of non‑additional support people in recent times.
Ms ROSOL – What are the vacancies with the child safety officers?
Ms C. LOVELL – For the Child Safety Service, current vacancies just for child safety officers – for the north there are 25 budget FTE, and 24.4 of those occupied. For the north‑west, 23.5 budget FTE, and 14.2 of those are occupied. For the south, there are 56.4 budget FTE, and 43.9 are occupied.
Ms ROSOL – In terms of the advice and referral line, how many positions there are currently occupied and how many are vacant?
Ms C. LOVELL – I believe there are 13 vacancies currently. I don’t have that data in front of me. I’m going off updates being provided around the recruitment campaign, which indicates numbers of applicants are so significant that all vacancies will be filled.
Ms ROSOL – Is it possible to take that as a question on notice, around the current figures on that, please, minister?
Mr JAENSCH – Yes, current vacancies for ARL.
Ms C. LOVELL – The advice and referral line is made up of government and two non‑government partners. I can get those figures.
Ms ROSOL – That would be great, thank you.
Mr JAENSCH – I’ll see if we can get them while we’re here, if that’s possible.
Ms ROSOL – How many practice managers are employed at the moment in child safety services and the ARL respectively?
Ms C. LOVELL – I might need to think about which report provides that breakdown. That might be one that you have there, Jason.
Ms ROSOL – I have one more question around staffing. How many staff are in each of the teams that manage children and young people through a teams‑based approach?
Ms C. LOVELL – The teams‑based approach, I’ll find that for you.
Ms ROSOL – How many teams are there, and how many are in each of the teams?
Ms C. LOVELL – There are two teams in the south which provide a team‑based approach, known as case management team 7 and case management team 10. I’ll look up those numbers for you around the staff members in those. They do vary. We allocate as many available staff as we can to those teams on any given days. I’ll find the right page for you and give you the exact positions and how many for each.
Ms ROSOL – Thank you. There are two teams in the south, there’s one in the north‑west, is that correct? Or one in the north?
Ms C. LOVELL – No. In the north and north‑west there are no teams with that specific focus. The children there who aren’t allocated their own child safety officer are what we call service‑managed. That’s where all available staff from that service provide the services that the children need.
Ms ROSOL – Not CSO level?
Ms C. LOVELL – Yes. They’re not allocated directly to their own child safety officer.
Ms ROSOL – If it’s a service team, what are some of the staff roles that might be working in that team?
Ms C. LOVELL – Youth workers are an example of that role. Our new youth workers work with a number of young people each, so they become really their direct primary worker when that happens.
Ms ROSOL – They don’t have a social worker having any oversight of them because there’s no CSOs available in that team. Is that what you’re saying?
Ms C. LOVELL – All of the social workers, including the managers from that service, provide oversight. A lot of those children have a care team. The care team will be collectively providing oversight, but depending on what their need is, managers will keep making a summary of the children who need a particular thing.
For example, if some of those are in their late teens, the focus for them will be on transitioning to independence. The managers of those services know who those children are. They make sure that they’re allocated to either a youth worker or a transition to independence worker and that those services are being delivered as required.
Ms ROSOL – It’s like, there’s a level missing? A CSO is missing and then they have the youth worker and the transition worker and a manager, but not a CSO.
Ms C. LOVELL – That’s right, they’re not directly allocated a CSO, but if they do have a need that a child safety officer needs to respond to, a child safety officer from that service will attend to that need.
Ms ROSOL – Who has their own caseload already and redirects to that child?
Ms C. LOVELL – Yes, they do share that responsibility across the child safety officers who are there and the practice leaders and practice managers. It might be that delegation is required to give permission for a child or young person to engage in an activity, something like anybody who’s available from the service can provide that authority.
