Government caseworkers saw only one in four at-risk children in the Hunter last year as authorities continued to struggle with rising levels of domestic dysfunction.
Figures for the year to September 2019 show only 2808 of the 11,103 children deemed at "risk of significant harm" in the Hunter were seen by a caseworker.
This 25 per cent visitation rate was one of the worst in NSW, above only the Central Coast (22), New England (24) and Western Sydney (24).
Across Hunter and New England, the number of children reported as being at risk rose a staggering 25 per cent, from 14,135 to 17,547, in the year.
The Department of Communities and Justice, formerly Family and Community Services, struggled to keep up with the increase.
Caseworkers saw 4361 children in the year to September 2019, up from 2823 a year earlier, when only one in five children were seen.
But the number of children who did not see a caseworker still rose sharply, from 11,312 to 13,186.
Shadow Family and Community Services Minister Penny Sharpe grilled her government opposite, Gareth Ward, in a budget estimates hearing in March over whether the state had fulfilled a 2019 budget promise to hire seven new caseworkers in the Hunter.
Asked about the positions on Thursday, a Communities and Justice spokesperson said that "as at 30 April 2020, the Hunter District had filled the seven newly funded roles that were promised".
Ms Sharpe said she remained "deeply sceptical about whether there are actual people in place working with kids, but I welcome the places finally being filled 10 months after they were funded".
She said the number of children not seen remained "unacceptable".
"What it points to is that the department is under-resourced to do the job we're asking it to do," she said.
"It's clear there's been a lot of extra caseworkers put into the Hunter in recent times, and you can see the percentage of kids being seen has actually improved, but it's still a woefully low number.
"It just tells you there's a lot of kids out there that no one ever sees."
The Hunter had the most reported children of any district in NSW other than South Western Sydney (12,551).
The number of children in NSW re-reported after their case closed rose from 36 per cent in March 2019 to 37.5 per cent in September, despite a departmental target of reaching 32.3 per cent by June 2023.
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