ACT child protection workers are under ''extreme duress'' trying to find accommodation for Canberra's vulnerable children, according to the territory's Public Advocate.
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And the ACT community is relying on the goodwill of the non-government sector to keep children from harm, according to Public Advocate Anita Phillips who says a ''one dimensional'' focus on foster care is limiting the options available for placements.
In the aftermath of Ms Phillips' scathing report into child protection services delivered last week, the Canberra Liberals will move a motion of no confidence in Children's Minister Joy Burch in the Legislative Assembly this morning.
Ms Phillips' report into the care of vulnerable children in Canberra's north this year found that ACT Government's Care and Protection Services knew it was breaking the law by allowing 24 children to be cared for by a non-government provider that had not been vetted or qualified for such work.
But the advocate has gone further, writing that much of the activity in ''Out of Home Care'' for at-risk children had stalled while non-government agencies struggle with a compulsory tendering process.
Ms Phillips found that just 12 extra placements had been found in the past year with most of the growth in kinship care, where extended families of the vulnerable youngsters volunteer to take them in.
The advocate was critical of what she described as a ''one-dimensional'' focus on foster care, noting that an extensive advertising campaign seeking foster enquiries had only yielded 14 expressions of interest.
''The current status quo cannot be maintained,'' she wrote.
''Currently children continue to come in and out of home care.''
But in her report, Ms Phillips praised the efforts of individual case workers and agencies in the face of systemic problems.
''Case workers who are already working under extreme duress are placed under more pressure to find placements,'' the advocate wrote.
''On occasions case workers have found themselves staying overnight in hotels with children due to lack of placement options.
''The non-government sector cannot continue to 'pull rabbits from hats' in an endeavour to meet demand.''
Meanwhile, in the Assembly this morning, the Canberra Liberals will try to turn up the political heat on Ms Burch over the Public Advocate's report.
Shadow minister for community services Vicki Dunne will move a motion of no confidence in the minster, alleging ''incompetence, arrogance and a lack of action'' from Ms Burch in her portfolio.
''The Public Advocate's report into the emergency response strategy for children in crisis in the ACT is perhaps Joy Burch's most shocking failure as minister,'' Mrs Dunne said yesterday. ''It would be difficult to find a more damning statement about a directorate that is clearly dysfunctional and out of its minister's control.''
Ms Burch said that she would be acting immediately on Ms Phillips' recommendations, but she added that senior staff in her directorate had been kept in the dark about some practices in day-to-day child protection operations.
''The report indicates that part of the failures in communications was the briefs coming up through the executives,'' the minister said.
