Child abuse help pledge from D.S.W.

Press, 15 January 1988, Page 5

Child abuse help pledge from D.S.W.

By JANE ENGLAND Children being abused in Christchurch will be protected by the Social Welfare Department, said the department’s director, Mr Maurice Doocey, in spite of a work to rule which caused a large reduction in the cases handled by social workers.

Social workers angered by a caseload, which, according to their union, the Public Service Association, had grown too heavy to handle effectively, reduced their child and family caseloads by 300 on Tuesday. A meeting of social work management was

held yesterday to determine ways of coping with the action. Individual caseloads have been limited to 21 but social workers were still doing the related work they had always done. Cases off-loaded by social workers would be referred to management, said Mr Doocey. The management and union have reached a stalemate in negotiations. The P.S.A. has called for up to 15 permanent trained social workers to relieve the pressure of working with 100 cases a month. The department’s proposal to limit cases to 30

while the workload was assessed, has been rejected. Mr Doocey said no significant problems in areas of social work had been caused by the dispute.

“People who need our services can be assured that they will be dealt with in the normal way,” he said. There would be a response to all cases of child abuse where children needed protection, he said. In January last year there were about 30 cases of child abuse reported. From Christmas to now, there had been about 12 cases reported.