Victoria Child Protection Places Baby With Childcare Worker for Weekend Care

A Melbourne childcare worker took in a months-old infant last year after a court removed the child from her mother and child protection workers sought weekend care. The worker, identified as Sofie, received the request by phone while at the centre where the child had attended only a few days.

The baby arrived at Sofie’s house at 7pm on a Friday with bags of clothes, toys, nappies and food. No one had fed her since that morning. Child protection staff told Sofie the placement would last only the weekend, then extended the estimate first to a week and then to a month.

Sofie is classified by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing as a kinship carer despite having no prior family relationship with the child. 8 billion to improve outcomes for children who cannot live safely at home. Anne McLeish, director of Kinship Carers Victoria, said workers seek family or kinship placements to avoid institutional care when no foster carer is available.

The Community and Public Sector Union’s state secretary, Jiselle Hanna, said ongoing understaffing contributes to case management problems.

Sofie reported developmental concerns including delayed motor skills and inconsistent sleep. She said the child gained weight and began sleeping through the night after regular feeding. Vaccinations listed as current were later found overdue, and blood tests and X-rays ordered by a specialist were completed only after Sofie arranged them.

Basic equipment such as a cot and car seat arrived months late. Supervised visits with the mother were conducted by different departmental workers, some of whom arrived without valid identification, according to Sofie and the centre director, Nina. The shared-care plan proposed by the two women was discontinued within the first week.

More than six months after the initial placement, Sofie remains uncertain how long the child will stay.