Caseworkers warned of children at risk before boy died

Days before a Central Coast mother allegedly murdered her son, caseworkers warned it was only a matter of time before a child died in the region afflicted by drugs, mental health problems and a protection regime in shambles.

The shocking news of the boy’s death comes as caseworkers claim they were forced to turn away families in the months before a new system was ready to accept referrals, prompting concerns about gaps and confusion swallowing families at risk of serious physical and sexual violence.

NSW Police sources on Sunday said they were investigating the death of a four-year-old boy in Wyong after his mother allegedly walked into the police station alleging she had consumed part of his body.

The boy and his 32-year-old mother were known to the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) who had received multiple reports of child safety concerns.

The most recent report was 18 months ago. Sources tell the Herald that was before the pair moved to the Central Coast, having previously lived in the Northern Tablelands.

But they had moved into a region which, according to local caseworkers, is rife with drugs, domestic violence and struggling to protect vulnerable children. DCJ denies any families were left without support.

“If there is a child death, it will not surprise me one bit,” one caseworker told the Herald days before the boy’s body was discovered.

New child protection regime causing confusion

The concern was sparked because the Central Coast, like the rest of the state, is bringing a child protection regime historically provided by non-government organisations under a new umbrella framework.

Families Together is designed to keep children in their homes and prevent out-of-home care. It was expected to be up and running by July 1, and the sector is broadly behind the change.

But legacy programs, provided by some NGOs who lost out on funding, have been winding down since January and must close their doors to hundreds of clients.

There are 550 families statewide who need to be transitioned into new “family preservation” providers, 170 of them on the coast.

The families are passed to DCJ triage workers who may, in turn, pass them on to another local service, who may then enrol them in Families Together if they are eligible. Direct referrals from outside DCJ have been paused until the end of the year.

However, caseworkers inside DCJ and the NGOs have brought onto the new system only in recent weeks and expressed confusion about how to redirect the at-risk families.

“I asked DCJ’s caseworker to consider referring (one client) to Families Together, and I was told ‘I don’t even know what that is, we know nothing on how to do it yet’,” a caseworker said last week.

“We haven’t been able to refer families since January 2026 – the programs you could refer to all closed their books. Or, if they didn’t close their books, have sat (families) on a wait list until they can be referred.”

All the outgoing caseworkers can do, they say, is file reports with DCJ warning of a “risk of serious harm” (ROSH) which are supposed to trigger contact from new caseworkers within 24 hours.

Caseworkers fear families have not been contacted by new providers and have fallen through the cracks.

The government disagrees – saying all but 11 families have been transitioned to the new service, none of those families are on the coast and that no providers had raised any concerns.

‘We haven’t been able to refer families since January 2026 – the programs you could refer to all closed their books.’

“To ensure the safety of children, a transition plan was designed collaboratively with peak bodies and the union, with DCJ and service providers assessing and planning for every family involved in the program. On the Central Coast, every family requiring ongoing support has been successfully transitioned to a new provider,” a DCJ spokesperson said.

“New referrals by DCJ caseworkers into the Family Preservation program have been ongoing, and will continue throughout the transition.”

‘Families at risk of falling through the cracks’

Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies CEO Simone Czech said a new way of delivering family preservation programs was a timely and much-needed move to bring a “mishmash” of services under one umbrella, but was concerned about the way the transition had been handled.

Czech wrote to the secretary of the department, warning of risks of service gaps as existing programs were wound down and new services established.

“I think the concern from providers is their view is that more families should have gone across to the new system, and when you’ve got so few other services outside Families Together that you can refer those families to, I think the concern is genuine about who’s going to provide them support, and in some cases it’s going to be nobody,” she said.

When asked if families were at risk of falling through the cracks, Czech said: “The demand in the system far outweighs any supply of services or availability of services, and for that reason, whether it’s families who should be in receipt of Families Together or any other service, the answer is yes.”

Beyond the imperative to boost support for families in the most acute levels of crisis, governments should focus more funding and attention to early intervention services as a priority, Czech said.

“By the time someone gets reported at risk of significant harm, in many ways it is too late.”

Two damning Ombudsman’s reports

The NSW Ombudsman, in 2024, found 75 per cent of children reported to be at risk of harm were not visited by a caseworker, in a damning report about DCJ’s handling of the vulnerable.

Washington, who has ordered a review of the Wyong case, said she inherited a system “in shambles” three years ago.

“We are managing a system that was spiralling out of control. We are trying to turn it around – it has taken time to get where we are already, and it will take more time to ensure that we have the system in place that children and families of this state deserve,” Washington said.

The government is investing $900 million over the next five years in the family preservation system.

Another Ombudsman’s report this year denounced what it described as a long-standing practice within the department of closing ROSH reports because of “no capacity to allocate” the report to a caseworker, or in a few cases because the caseworker assigned had other “competing priorities”.

The report found 65 per cent of the more than 244,000 ROSH reports in 2024-25 were closed for this reason, with no in-person assessment.

Anyone needing support can contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028, Lifeline 13 11 14, and Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800.

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