ChildStory – What’s the story six months on – June 2018 (PDF version)

It has now been six months since the implementation of ChildStory.

The roll out of Release 1 has been traumatic and difficult for our members due to glaring inadequacies and poor data migration. The Department’s refusal for many months to acknowledge these issues resulted in many children being placed at risk.

FACS now claims the issues raised by the PSA and our members have been resolved.

However, we know that the best way to understand what is really happening is to ask the people working with the program, you.

What did you say last time?

Last time we asked these questions 636 members completed our survey and key findings included:

• 96.63 per cent of respondents did not think ChildStory was user friendly/intuitive
• 77.06 per cent of respondents are spending significantly more time at their computers
• 97.32 per cent of respondents did not think the ChildStory training provided by FACS enable them to do their work
• 96.85 per cent of respondents did not think they had enough on-site support
• 76.54 per cent of respondents reported ChildStory had a negative impact on their physical and/or mental health
• 96.36 per cent of respondents believed they could not do their work without having access to KIDS.

How did PSA use your feedback?

PSA officials and delegates have had several meetings with the Minister, the FACS Secretary, and other FACS executives during which we provided copies of the survey results. The feedback you provided was invaluable as it dispelled any misconceptions or sanitised communications provided to the Minister or Secretary.

This has helped your union keep the pressure on FACS to resolve the ChildStory problems. This is now a key priority for the department. We have made significant progress but still have a long way to go. Remember, ChildStory was meant to be more user-friendly than KIDS and allow you to spend less time at your computer. FACS still needs to achieve this goal.

Let us know, has anything changed?

Please take 5-10 minutes to fill in our new survey. This short amount of your time will help us properly understand what is happening in your workplace now and will support us to continue to fight for a better ChildStory for all members and the children and families you support every single day.

Please fill out the survey via Survey Monkey which has been emailed to members from the PSA.