HAMILTON may eventually lose its local child protection services office along with Portland, as a leaked document titled ‘Change Proposal’ from the agency outlined moving its operation to the Warrnambool location.

The document cited increasing “staffing and service delivery challenges” with Wimmera South West Area (WSWA) struggling to cover the “large geographical area” and proposed new staff for Hamilton and Portland regions be sourced from the Warrnambool area.

“WSWA has had ongoing difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff in Hamilton, Portland and Horsham offices, particularly senior practitioners,” the document said.

“Combined with staff turnover, planned and unplanned leave, and Workcover claims, there has been insufficient ‘critical mass’ to manage the workload in these locations. This has led to high rates of cases awaiting allocation and concerns about practice quality.”

WSWA covers nine local government areas including Southern Grampians, Northern Grampians, Corangamite, Moyne, Glenelg and West Wimmera.

“WSWA Child Protection is unique in the state, with staff distributed across four separate work locations: Warrnambool, Horsham, Portland and Hamilton,” the document said.

“Workload in Horsham and Warrnambool is managed in line with the current phase of intervention - this includes investigation and response teams, case management teams and a case contracting team.

“The two smaller sites - Hamilton and Portland - provide an integrated response to clients, with cases from investigation to longer team case management under two separate team managers. The child protection roles in both Hamilton and Portland are the most senior staff on site.

“WSWA currently has 98 child protection positions, 74 of these positions are case carrying. Over the past two years, Horsham, Hamilton and Portland sites have not been fully staffed. Numerous recruitment initiatives and advertising campaigns have been conducted with limited interest. This is despite the regional financial incentive being offered throughout this process. Retention has also been a challenge, with the majority of overseas recruits leaving.”

The document outlined proposed changes from management to address the shortages in staff yet achieve “increased access to in-person supervision and support” as well as integrating the team manager roles in Hamilton and Portland into the South West operational program.

“The first identified change to the current structure would involve redirecting the investigations from both the Hamilton and Portland teams and creating a second investigation team based in Warrnambool,” the document said.

“This shift in structure would create greater flexibility to respond to the influx of demand and would allow the larger existing team in Warrnambool to merge with the staff from Portland and Hamilton, creating two even teams.

“This would allow better coverage to manage planned and unplanned leave and any vacancies. The change to the structure would enable the area to recruit from Warrnambool, which has recently been easier.

“Although the team would be based in Warrnambool, staff and team managers would be able to continue to be based in their preferred office as each office is roughly one hour apart.”

While the document stressed “there is no expectation of relocation” of existing staff, the outcome would likely mean new recruits would be working out of Warrnambool.

Wannon MP, Emma Kealy, expressed her disappointment at the proposal.

“It’s a disastrous outcome for our most vulnerable children to see Labor cutting child protection services in Hamilton,” she said.

“We’ve seen so many instances when moving jobs to Warrnambool means worse outcomes locally. We get fewer visits, less support and there’s far more pressure for people to travel away rather than access this support locally. This is likely to have terrible outcomes for our local vulnerable children.

“Labor must urgently review their decision and do everything they can to keep the Hamilton child protection office open with a full quota of locally based staff.”

UPDATE: THE Department of Families Fairness and Housing (DFFH) said the proposed changes should not be construed to mean offices were shutting.
“Both the Hamilton and Portland Office will remain open, and we would like to reassure the local community there will be no changes to the services provided to them, or any reduction in staff at either site,” a DFFH spokesperson said.
“We thank our staff for the very important and rewarding work they do supporting children and families around the clock.”
“A second dedicated investigations team working across Hamilton, Portland and Warrnambool and servicing the surrounding areas will help meet growing demand for child protection services and reduce case load.
“This approach is in line with the state-wide child protection operating model, and removes the burden of conducting investigations on staff at Portland and Hamilton, meaning they can spend more time supporting children and families through case management work.
“We are not closing or relocating either office (Portland or Hamilton). Staff will continue to work from both offices as they do today.
“There will be no job losses or changes to staffing numbers at either office. There will be no job losses or any changes at Horsham.
“We have communicated these changes to staff, and they overwhelmingly support them.”

The process for the changes began in late February, and following consultations with staff was expected to be fully implemented by April 17.

The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) said the proposed changes should not be construed to mean offices were shutting.

“Both the Hamilton and Portland Office will remain open, and we would like to reassure the local community there will be no changes to the services provided to them, or any reduction in staff at either site,” a DFFH spokesperson said.

“We thank our staff for the very important and rewarding work they do supporting children and families around the clock.”

“A second dedicated investigations team working across Hamilton, Portland and Warrnambool and servicing the surrounding areas will help meet growing demand for child protection services and reduce case load.

“This approach is in line with the state-wide child protection operating model, and removes the burden of conducting investigations on staff at Portland and Hamilton, meaning they can spend more time supporting children and families through case management work.

“We are not closing or relocating either office (Portland or Hamilton). Staff will continue to work from both offices as they do today.

“There will be no job losses or changes to staffing numbers at either office. There will be no job losses or any changes at Horsham.

“We have communicated these changes to staff, and they overwhelmingly support them.”