There were 5716 children in Western NSW, including the whole Orana region, who had been listed in reports as at risk of significant harm, according to FACS quarterly figures to June.

But, only 1891 or one-third of them had face-to-face assessments with FACS child protection employees.

The rest only had phone interviews or were deemed not to be at risk.

What’s next? 

Email or text exchanges to decide a kid’s fate? 

Across NSW 72,243 children were reported and only 19,092 assessed.

There is a shortage of case workers. 

Western NSW has 17 vacancies, the third highest percentage in NSW. 

FACS does not break down figures sufficiently to provide detail on the size of the problem in Orana or Dubbo and other towns.

The numbers are outrageous, but the real scandal is that the situation exists at all.

These are the most vulnerable members of the community – children, who depend on their elders and society to keep them safe.

They are not being given the appropriate attention, care and help.

They could be at risk of violent and /or sexual abuse, depression, poverty, self-harm and a host of other horrors.

The government needs to fix the problem and any issues that flow from it. Not at bureaucratic speed. Now.