The Public Service Association of NSW (PSA) says the Minns Government’s announcement of sweeping foster care reforms, designed to rebuild accountability and transparency across a system supporting more than 13,500 vulnerable children, is a long overdue reset after years of outsourcing failures under the Permanency Support Program.
The union, which represents child protection caseworkers in the Department of Communities and Justice, said the changes recognise what frontline staff have been warning for years: when responsibility is fragmented, children fall through the cracks.
For nearly a decade, caseworkers have operated inside a system where legal responsibility remained with government while service delivery was increasingly outsourced to non-government providers.
A three-year evaluation found the model failed its core objectives, even as funding to providers climbed to around $1 billion annually and the services delivered to children declined.
The PSA said the shift to strengthen oversight, wind down existing contracts and return decision-making authority to government agencies is essential to protecting children and restoring public confidence.
The reforms will also elevate the role of foster carers, expand recruitment, strengthen performance monitoring of providers and invest further in Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations so Aboriginal children can remain connected to kin, culture and community wherever possible.
The union said frontline workers understand the stakes better than anyone.
For years our union has been campaigning on behalf of our members in regard to the dysfunctional child protection system they were left managing by the former government,” said Troy Wright, PSA Assistant General Secretary.
Crucially last year in the Budget the Government committed funds to increase their salaries to a level that would address the workforce retention crisis, but the reforms announced today are the final missing piece.
The out-of-home care system in New South Wales has been subject to more bad reviews than a Bollywood musical and more report card fails than Bart Simpson.
“It offered poor outcomes and even worse value for the taxpayer.
“Non-Government Organisations were virtually being given open-ended cheques with no responsibilities, and when they couldn’t do the work because it was too difficult, the care of children was thrown back on a resource-starved public sector.
This will ensure the decision-making is placed with the Minister, Government and Department with the legal responsibility for children in care, and that accountability is placed on the service who accept the funding to provide it.”