DCP spends $10 million on child protection

The Department for Child Protection (DCP) in Western Australia has outsourced support for its core customer relationship management system, used by around 2000 field and social workers who provide care for children and young people at risk.

The DCP awarded the five year, $10 million support contract to Fujitsu following a competitive tender.

The PeopleSoft CRM system is used around-the-clock by these distributed and remote staff at 36 offices. The staff also provide family support service and administer adoption and criminal records screening for people who work with children in the broader community.

According to DCP figures, there were 3641 children (aged under 18) in its care in Western Australia and 4365 approved foster carers (comprising 2177 relative foster carers and 2188 general foster carers) as at December 2011.

Between August 2008 and December 2011, the department also provided 30,507 grants worth $10.9 million to struggling families and individuals in Western Australia pay their utility bills under its Hardship Utilities Grants scheme.

“We deliver some of the most critical statutory services for the community in Western Australia,” Cheryl Barnett, executive director, metropolitan services, Department for Child Protection, said in a prepared statement.

“Our staff require a high level of skill, commitment and resilience. Their effectiveness is underpinned by critical technologies. Working with Fujitsu, we will have the support of their combined local and national skills base to ensure that our core systems continue to support the needs of our distributed and remote workforce.”