Child support workers say some of the state's most vulnerable families are missing out on help they need because staff are being stretched too thin.
It has prompted WA's civil service union to take negotiations with the Department of Communities to the state's Industrial Relations Commission (IRC), saying direct conversations had not resulted in change.
At the core of the union's concerns is that staff are being overloaded – at the same time, they say, that around 1,000 children are yet to be assigned a caseworker.
Official figures show that as of July, there were 1,034 cases without an allocated case worker.
"Child protection workers don't then have the time, they're spread too thin, to pay those cases the attention they would like to give to them," CPSU/CSA secretary Rikki Hendon said.
"What that does is puts vulnerable children and families, ultimately, at risk."
According to the union, there have been 612 instances of child protection workers being assigned more than 15 cases this year – a limit previously imposed by the IRC, and which can only be exceeded in "exceptional circumstances".
Education minister Sue Ellery told parliament children without a case worker were still offered individualised support.
"Children in the CEO's care who do not have an allocated case manager continue to receive services and support, supervised by a team leader," she said.
"The type of services and support provided will be individualised in response to the child's or family's specific circumstances."
'Absolute limit' breached dozens of times
Ms Hendon said the "absolute limit" of 18 cases had been breached at least 85 times.
Figures presented to parliament yesterday showed those pressures remain high, with at least 80 staff assigned more than 15 cases last month – greater than the 75 who passed the limit the previous month.
In July, seven staff had more than 18 cases, although that was reduced to zero by August.
Each case might include more than one child by covering, for example, a whole family.
"For any child to have an open case for child protection, there has to be a very serious concern going on in that family, or that young child's life, so the work that has to be done is quite intense," Ms Hendon said.
"Child protection workers have to do significant work in those cases, have to get to know the families, know foster carers, know all the supports in the child's life and obviously know the child as well.
"It requires workers to have that time and effort to be able to put into those cases, but if they're spread too thin that simply doesn't happen."
This year's state budget contained an additional $114 million for the child protection system, including provision for 36 new staff.
At the time, the government said for the first time in nearly a quarter-of-a-century, the number of children in care had dropped.
Opposition wants answers on crisis
Opposition spokesman for child protection Nick Goiran said the workload pressures were akin to what was happening in the health system.
"The information that has come out is the child protection equivalent to the ambulance ramping crisis," he said.
"We know what happens when case workers are overloaded – we have children who are literally going missing and we have children placed in unsafe environments."
Mr Goiran wants minister Simone McGurk to issue an apology to the workers.
"It is a great sadness that we now have child protection workers literally walking to the industrial relations commissioner to have a private hearing," he said.
A state government spokesperson defended its record on child protection.
"Since coming into government we have increased spending in child protection by almost 25 per cent and increased the child protection workforce by almost 30 per cent," the spokesperson said.
"That includes 224 full-time equivalent frontline case workers.
"At the same time, last year the total number of children in care in Western Australia fell for the first time since 1997.
"Communities remains committed to addressing job vacancies within the child protection workforce, and is continuing to run a state-wide child protection worker recruitment pool."
Other signs of strain emerging
In a statement, the department highlighted a $36.7 million commitment in the budget to deliver and enhance child protection services.
It said it managed caseloads according to a 2007 IRC order and noted "the upper limit" of 15 cases per qualified child protection worker, "with up to 18 cases in certain circumstances".
"Communities takes the concerns of its workforce seriously and encourages staff to raise issues affecting their ability to perform tasks directly, through supervision meetings or with senior management," a department spokesperson said.
"Communities remains committed to addressing job vacancies within the child protection workforce and is continuing to run a state-wide child protection worker recruitment pool.
"Communities will not comment on matters before the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission."
There have also been other signs of strain within the department, with a total of 19 business continuity plans being activated between May and July – 15 because of "workforce depletion".
Those plans allow parts of the department to shed some functions and responsibilities to focus on "critical frontline service delivery".
Areas impacted include service delivery units in the North Metropolitan and Midwest Gascoyne regions, as well as the NDIS Worker Screening Unit.
Other units included those responsible for complaints, individualised services, residential care, and specialised care and accommodation.
The Kath French Secure Care Centre, which provides short-term intensive "intervention" and round-the-clock care for some of the state's most vulnerable children also activated its plan.
The department did not say which areas had been impacted by staff shortages, but said loss of access to buildings, IT infrastructure, key equipment or third party suppliers could also mean plans had to be activated.
