‘Out of control’: Kids in care make life hell for terrified residents

All-night parties, rocks through windows and crashed stolen cars are forcing petrified residents to sell as teens whip up a storm of suburban terror. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

ALL-NIGHT parties, rocks through windows and crashed stolen cars are forcing petrified residents to sell up and get out as teens whip up a suburban storm of terror while the mind boggling cost of the residential care is revealed.

Horrific reports from residents living close to Child Safety residential care homes have emerged following a disturbing insight into “bums in bed” style operation of facilities across the city, revealed by the Cairns Post earlier this month.

A Mt Sheridan woman living near a residential care home operated by Safe Places for Children was too afraid of retaliation to provide a name.

Rubbish and other litter said to have come from a Mt Sheridan residential care home. Picture: Supplied

She said her home had been turned into a “fortress” and life had become a running battle as minors in residential care, known as resi care, made life hell for the whole neighbourhood.

“People have sold up and are too scared to live there now,” she said.

“One day I saw them chroming in the driveway, the carer was sitting on the porch watching.

“After that night they totally trashed the house and went through the neighbour’s property and scared the hell out of them.

“The next week the young lass steals a car and parked it out the front of our house and then crashed into the neighbour’s house.

“Police come and arrest her and she is removed from the house after they tossed rubbish into our backyard.”

A spa bath near an adjoining fence has been drained after takeaway chicken bones were thrown over the fence into the water and shockingly the resident was forced to close in a veranda at the front of the property after youths urinated and were caught fornicating on the outdoor couch.

Minors living at a Mt Sheridan residential care home in an allegedly stolen car. Picture: Supplied

According to the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs there are 140 young people living in 73 homes across Cairns.

There are 11 different providers offering residential care services in Cairns which were collectively funded $56.7m during the 2021/22 financial year.

“Each young person’s personal circumstances are different,” a spokeswoman said.

“Some young people in residential care have significant disabilities and require specialist care, and some children and young people are part of a large sibling group.

“Some young people are transitioning into independent living and require additional support until they are independent.

“Some young people have behavioural issues that require additional support.”

Scene of a fatal traffic crash at Manoora, where an allegedly stolen Toyota Yaris left Pease Street near the Saltwater Creek bridge and crash into a tree. A 14 year old boy was declared dead at the scene, and 5 other children aged 12 to 15 were taken to Cairns Hospital. Picture: Brendan Radke

The desperate Mt Sheridan resident with nowhere to turn has invested heavily in CCTV, triple dead bolted doors and her bedroom is triple bolted again to keep care home teens out.

“(And) we have a stainless steel chain around the gate so they can’t cut it with the Ozito tools they come with,” she said.

“There is something badly wrong here.

“I am all for kids having a safe bed but they need to go to school (instead) they are having parties and chroming at two in the morning.

“The carers don’t report them missing because they don’t get the $1200 a night.

“It’s not working, it’s a waste of taxpayer’s money.”

As reported in the Weekend Post this month, according to Child Safety residential care costs the state government almost $320,000 a year per child on average.

Nightly costs to keep a child in care range from $800 and $1200 per child.

Following the death of Cairns teen Bradley Smith in an allegedly stolen car earlier this month a Child Safety whistleblower exposed a common practice of providers holding off to report children absent from the resi care home.

“Organisations are reluctant to report a kid missing from placement because that’s not a bum in bed and they don’t get paid,” she said.

Another woman living near a resi care home in Westcourt run by Integrated Family and Youth Service Administration (IFYS) was offered Taipans tickets and chocolates after teens in care went on a rampage and threw bricks through car windows.

“The carers park their own cars down the street for fear of vandalism,” she said

A smashed vehicle in the driveway of a Westcourt house. Picture: Supplied

The anonymous resident has started the process to force the closure of the care property.

“But a lot (of neighbours) are in fear, they don’t want to come forward,” she said.

“It’s very disruptive and scary.

“My six-year-old daughter (is) frightened, she can hear it all.”

She said each week contract glaziers could be seen at the house making running repairs to broken windows.

“It’s just out of control,” she said.

Rivalry between teen gangs often played out on the front lawn but carers were powerless to intervene.

One situation stuck in her mind.

“I had a group of youths bash up a girl on (the nature strip), her head was getting belted into the road,” she said.

“We were trying to help the girl getting her head bashed in and we were called all names under the sun and the carer just stood there.”

Safe Places for Children and IFYS, two of the 11 Cairns residential care providers, did not respond to emailed questions from the Cairns Post before deadline.

Originally published as ‘Out of control’: Kids in care make life hell for terrified residents