‘Turned into monsters’: State care kids in hotel limbo wreck rooms

Teens in state care destroying Cairns hotel rooms are giving Child Safety such a bad reputation among hoteliers, workers are being asked to book rooms using their own credit cards.

TROUBLED teens in state care destroying Cairns hotel rooms are giving Child Safety such a bad reputation among hoteliers that workers are being asked to book rooms using their own credit cards.

The latest revelation for the sector in crisis follows reports of drug use, property crime and destruction of suburban out-of-care home units reported by disillusioned former workers exposing what goes on behind closed doors. 

The 140 young people currently living in residential care homes often exhibit problem behaviours or are too old to be suitable for placement with foster or kinship carers.

Youth Justice Department Deputy Director-General Phillip Brooks, Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard, Youth Justice co-responder Joel Karwan, Police Minister Mark Ryan, Queensland Police Union Far North executive member Gil Dyett and Cairns MP Michael Healy during a visit to the Cairns PCYC last month in the wake of a teen's stolen car death. Picture: Chris Calcino

According to a former Child Safety worker, when children enter the residential care system they go through a central processing unit before being allocated to care homes.

But if there’s not a bed they get punted to Cairns hotels accompanied by a youth worker.

“It’s a common practice,” she said.

“They put them up in commercial hotels and pay for youth workers to look after them.”

Eleven different providers offer residential care services, known as resi care, which were collectively funded $56.7m during the 2021/22 financial year.

Residential care costs the state government almost $320,000 a year per child on average

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The worker said ongoing damage to hotel rooms caused by uncontrollable teens had meant some hoteliers had refused direct bookings from the department. In one instance a worker still employed by the industry is out of pocket $3000 after refusing a directive to book hotels in her name.

“One kid trashed a hotel room and she said to Child Safety she was not going to book hotels in her name anymore and they said they were not going to pay for the damage,” she said.

“These are the legal guardians of these kids and these are the decisions that are being made.”

Catherine Chase worked with youth in residential care and crisis care. She quit her job after becoming frustrated at the lack of support and action for juveniles in the system. Picture: Brendan Radke

Some Cairns care home providers denied housing state wards in hotels and holiday apartments but former residential care worker Catherine Chase said it was at times a necessity to keep children safe.

“There are certain situations where you have a child that can’t be with other children,” she said.

One Cairns hotel worker said in the past rooms had been damaged by kids in care who were often left alone in the hotel by carers.

As reported in the Cairns Post last month, residential care costs the state government almost $320,000 a year per child on average once getting out of hotel accommodation and into a suburban care home. Nightly costs to keep a child in care range from $800 and $1200 per child.

The former Child Safety insider said orphans and abused children being shuffled around hotel rooms compounded a sense of displacement and uncertainty after entering the state care system.

“Child Safety have taken the kids from the parents and turned them into monsters and a lot of these kids’ families are not having their say,” she said.

“People are not seeing the correlation between Child Safety and Youth Justice and how it relates to crime.”

While hotels such as the Acacia Court Hotel were known to take state wards, four and five star properties including Novotel Cairns Oasis Resort and the Pullman International at $260 a night have also housed Child Safety children.

The operator of the two latter properties, Accor, stated the company don’t comment on hotel guests. Acacia Court Hotel manager Polly Pan said damage to rooms was common but not restricted to children in state care. She said Child Safety books rooms at the Cairns Esplanade Hotel through a third party agent.

“If there is any issue we report back to them and they pay, any damage is quite normal as long as they are happy to cover the cost,” she said.

The four star Novotel Cairns Oasis Resort is one Cairns city hotel used to house children in state care.

Opposition police spokesman Dale Last was shocked luxury hotels were being used to house children in care.

“If ever there was an illustration that the youth justice and child safety systems are broken, this is it. What’s next, young offenders being chauffeured to their next break and enter?” he said.

“The community should be absolutely outraged at this latest revelation because it is taxpayers’ dollars that are being used to pay for this accommodation.”

Opposition police spokesman Dale Last and principal petitioner Perri Conti in Cairns last month to kick off a petition calling for an open inquiry into the child safety and juvenile justice system of Far North Queensland. Picture: Peter Carruthers

The Department of Children said on “rare occasions” children in state care were “temporarily supervised in hotels or motels”.

“If required, Cairns hotel and motel rooms are booked by Child Safety staff. Departmental staff do not book accommodation using their personal details,” the spokeswoman said.

“If a young person causes damage to their accommodation, the department will compensate the owners.”

The department stated “a small amount of compensation (had been) paid” following damage to hotel rooms but refused to say exactly how much, the total cost of hotel accommodation and why children were being put up in five star properties.

Speaking in Cairns two weeks ago Children and Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard addressing the issue state care spending said the community expected that a child in need be given a safe place to live.

Youth justice deputy director general Phillip Brooks, Mulgrave MP Curtis Pitt, Children and Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard, PCYC youth club management Steven Pattono and youth justice regional director Tracey Harding on March 7 at the Edmonton PCYC for an announcement of six extra staff to help at-risk young people in Edmonton. Picture: Peter Carruthers

“When a young person comes into our care, it is always a tragedy, and it’s a significant decision for the state to make to bring a young person out of a family environment into the care of the state,” she said.

“Do we aim for (value for money?) That’s never the measure of whether we intervene with a child who needs a safe home. That measure always is, is a young person at risk of harm, have they experienced harm and is there a parent willing and able to provide protection? Where there is not the act says we will intervene and we will.”

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Originally published as ‘Turned into monsters’: State care kids in hotel limbo wreck rooms