Inquiry Launched Into Queensland’s Child Safety Failures
The Crisafulli Government has today announced a Commission of Inquiry into the Child Safety System.
The historic Commission of Inquiry will expose failures of the system and the damage it has caused, with the recommendations to reshape and repair a system that was left broken by the former Labor Government.
The decision comes following the uncovering of long-term systemic failures that have led the Government to decide an independent investigation was a critical step in the reform process.
The Commission of Inquiry will be led by Paul Anastassiou KC, with its broad terms of reference:
Stark findings of a 2024 Census of more than 3,000 children in care is sobering in its severity and significance and shows the generational trauma of some of the State’s most vulnerable young people living in out-of-home care.
The 2024 Census found that children who were entering the out-of-home care system had suffered significant trauma:
Children who enter care after their 10th birthday are more likely to have mental health issues and self-harm, whereas children who enter care younger are more likely to have a disability and higher rates of limited intellectual functioning/development delay.
The children who live in residential care have significantly higher needs than those in foster or kinship care:
Almost a third of children in care have unmet support needs in relation to their mental health and two in ten have unmet needs in relation to their disability.
There were 650 children living in residential care in December 2015, that number has grown to 2,212 in December 2024, including 116 children aged five and under living in these homes.
Of the children in residential care, with all their needs and traumatic histories, 73 per cent will be placed in four or more homes during their time in care and more than half of children living in residential care will spend more than five years living in these homes.
As of December 2024, 12,497 children are living in out-of-home care in Queensland, 818 more than December 2023:
While traumatised children languished in residential care, the former Labor Government created a billion-dollar industry.
In the 2014/15 budget residential care services cost $200 million, in this financial year it will $1.12 billion.
Taxpayers are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars per child, per year to live in residential care across the State.
The billion-dollar industry created by the former Labor Government has blown out to such an extreme state that one teen’s care expenses have grown to $2.6 million, another teen costs $2.3 million per year.
Under the watch of the former Labor Government, the Department of Child Safety became a price taker, instead of a price setter, with an increasing reliance on Individual Placement Support (IPS), which is intended to be a short-term bridging response until a more stable Outsourced Service Delivery (OSD) placement is available.
In recent years, IPS placements have vastly increased in number and in placement length, creating a hugely inflated cost for Government and a higher risk for the child.
In the 2014/15 budget the spend on IPS was $82 million, this financial year it will cost taxpayers $766 million.
In the same period OSD grew from $118 million to $354 million.
The Crisafulli Government has ordered a full forensic audit into one for-profit residential care provider after it was uncovered that dividends had been paid to their three shareholders totalling $5.25 million last financial year.
This same organisation receives tens of millions of dollars from the State Government to run residential care services, with financial statements also revealing they increased their management fees by 1000 per cent.
Vulnerable children have also been put at risk by a former Labor Government who did not hire enough child safety officers to investigate claims of children at risk.
The timeframes set out by the Department to start an investigation are 24 hours for children in immediate risk and then 5 days and 10 days.
At December 2024 the proportion of investigations commenced for 5 and 10 days were extremely low:
The number of cases child safety officers were tasked to investigate over the past decade continued to grow, but the former Labor Government neglected to increase staff numbers at the level needed, putting vulnerable children at risk.
The Commission will be tasked with investigating the case work and case loads of child safety officers to determine if frontline staff are resourced and supported to do their work, while outlining deficiencies.
The 2024 Census can be accessed here.
QUOTES ON THE COMMISSION
Premier David Crisafulli said the historic Commission of Inquiry was needed to uncover the system’s failures.
“This is the Commission of Inquiry the State must have if we are serious about the safety of Queensland children and our communities,” Premier Crisafulli said.
“Reforming the State’s broken Child Safety System is critical, and we will take the steps others have been afraid to take because it is the right thing to do.”
Minister for Child Safety Amanda Camm said what the Crisafulli Government had uncovered in the past six months needed to be investigated and this extraordinary step of calling a Commission of Inquiry was necessary to unpack the mess left by the former Labor Government.
“There are some incredibly hardworking, loving, and caring people who work in this industry, or are foster and kinship carers who have been let down by the system that was created by the former Labor government,” Minister Camm said.
“We owe it to them and to these vulnerable children to reform the system.
“We have only scratched the surface of neglect, disarray, and morally questionable actions of some of the people and organisations that operate in the out-of-home care system.
“The former Labor Government created this billion-dollar residential care industry that has traumatised children and devastated communities in its wake. Their egregious lack of oversight allowed this to happen.
“The Commission will also take a wider look at the department to understand case management practices and case work oversight to ensure vulnerable children are receiving appropriate care.
“It is clear the former Labor Government did not care about vulnerable children and had no regard for whether child safety investigations timeframes were met. The former government failed in their duty to staff frontline officers appropriately and in doing so have put countless vulnerable children at risk over the past decade.
“The Commission of Inquiry will also delve into how the foster care and kinship carer system has operated over the past decade, while also looking closely at adoption policies and practices in Queensland.
“We had to call this Commission of Inquiry to unpack the full picture of how we got here and most importantly to find the best outcomes for children.
“The Crisafulli Government committed to a number of election promises in Child Safety and we will continue to enact that plan while this commission is ongoing, because the system as it currently stands cannot continue down the path it is on.”
QUOTES ON THE CENSUS
Minister for Child Safety Amanda Camm said the outcomes for children in residential care must be addressed.
“I challenge anyone who can read the 2024 Census report and not think that a Commission of Inquiry is necessary to prevent another generation of children being traumatised.
“The Census shows we have young people with incredibly traumatic and complex backgrounds and needs that are not being met under current care arrangements.
“The Crisafulli Government will not stand idly by as vulnerable children are churned out through a system that cannot meet their needs.
“It appears either the former Labor Minister’s knew about the issues in the system and did nothing, or they opted to remain ignorant to the misery surrounding those in their care, either of which are unacceptable.
“The former government completed a Census in 2023, with the results much the same and they sat on their hands.
“It is unacceptable to me as the Minister for Child Safety that this has been allowed to go on for so long, we must find better outcomes for these children, otherwise we will have another generation lost in an abuse cycle.
“The Commission of Inquiry will look at whether we have the right infrastructure and supports in place for children with disabilities and mental health issues.
“We have to do better to create generational change for vulnerable children and that starts with reforming a broken system.”
QUOTES ON THE FINANCIALS
Minister for Child Safety Amanda Camm said this all happened under the watch of the former Labor Government.
“The former Labor Government created a billion-dollar industry on the back of the state’s most vulnerable children, where for-profit organisations wield all the power and dictate the market,” Ms Camm said.
“It has become abundantly clear to me in my first six months as Child Safety Minister that this needs to be addressed and it needs to be done now.
“How this was allowed to happen will be subject to the Commission of Inquiry.
“It is nothing short of diabolical what the Labor party have done by not only overseeing this mess but allowing unscrupulous people to line their pockets as children in care languish.
“We must not only get better outcomes for these vulnerable children, but better outcomes for taxpayer’s dollars.”
https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/102583