Staff cuts at Child, Youth and Family (CYF) may leave vulnerable children to be shifted from foster home to foster home with no one overseeing their safety.
That fear was expressed on Thursday by Public Service Association national secretary Brenda Pilott, who describes CYF's decision to cut the number of social workers dedicated to looking after abused children as a tragedy.
"It's hard to imagine a more vulnerable group of children than these ones," she told Radio New Zealand's Checkpoint.
The service, required by the Government to reduce spending, is disbanding its specialist social workers' unit, whose job is to find permanent homes for abused children and ensure that those homes continue to be safe. They also provide ongoing support to the new caregivers.
Ms Pilott says that that requires great judgment and experience, which will be squandered if the workers are no longer assigned to a specialist unit.
Family Court lawyer Alan Cooke has also expressed concern, saying that the specialist workers play a critical role and it wouldn't be in a child's best interests if people with less expertise and experience were given the job.
Specialists 'will work alongside frontline staff'
CYF chief executive Ray Smith says the specialist social workers will be retained, and will work alongside front-line social workers sharing their expertise.
He says that some of the staff who supervise and manage the specialist areas will be asked to relocate, but he hopes ultimately to increase the number of staff working with caregivers.
