"[The children] are not really safe, there is no safe place [and] their home is not a safe place so when FACS [Family and Community Service] gets involved they used to be able to place them with their grandparents, and that’s becoming more and more of a challenge."

Loading

Friday's hearing in Moree was the last regional hearing by the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug 'Ice', and other amphetamine-type substances.

Ms Watson said drug and alcohol services in the New England region were either short-staffed, or short term (requiring providers to bid every 12 months).

"People are falling in the gaps," she said in her written submission.  "It is very disheartening to know that the need is there but there are not the resources."

On Thursday, the inquiry heard Moree's council said those needing rehabilitation had to travel to Armidale, Lismore or Newcastle. The closest detox was in Armidale.

To survive, Ms Watson said services had to collaborate.

"The issue is when there is nowhere you can refer to," she said.  If a child is under the age of 10, they fall outside of [the Youth Drug and Alcohol Service] scope, she said.

In the case of a nine-year-old in Armidale who was using ice, Ms Watson's service couldn't help because it was outside its area. But there was no other service to fill the gap.

As most services are provided by non-profits on 12-month contracts with the NSW government, it was difficult for clients,  especially Aboriginal families, to develop trusting relationships.

A local Indigenous community at Boggabilla was upset because they weren't getting the "magnitude of services on the ground" from up to 40 providers who had received contracts.

Loading

"The community is saying, 'Where are they?' " Ms Watson said.  To check who was coming into the community, the local Aboriginal Lands Council was requiring all visitors to sign in and out.

She called for longer contracts. "Once you build a rapport and a therapeutic relationship and then you are not around, it's traumatic for that person to ... access a different service and tell their story again.

"I have the impression that Aboriginal communities are used to seeing service providers turn up, stay for a period and tick a box, before leaving."

She said YDAS' youth program worked with children on their goals, including attending school,  working on relationships with parents and siblings, or finding and keeping jobs.

"If they start to feel good about themselves, empowered, they start to re-engage in school, you find inadvertently the ice use drops," she said. Smiling, she recalled a success:  "There is a 19-year-old who just got her ID for the first time, her birth certificate.

Future hearings in Sydney will focus on harm reduction, decriminalisation and diversionary programs. A health services roundtable will be held in  Sydney on Tuesday August 20.