Catastrophic blow to Qld’s already stretched foster care system

A major Queensland charity will pull out of providing care for hundreds of the state’s most vulnerable children to pay current and former staff after a salary underpayment mess.

Mercy Community will pull out of providing care for hundreds of the state’s most vulnerable children.

A major Queensland charity will pull out of providing care for hundreds of the state’s most vulnerable children, in a bid to free up at least $9m in cash to pay current and former staff at least after a salary underpayment mess.

Mercy Community confirmed it would “transition out” of providing foster and kinship care, residential care, supported independent living services and the Romero Centre “over the next few months”.

The charity has about 730 foster and kinship carers, who as of the latest available annual report cared for 1310 children.

There are 80 people living in Mercy Community’s housing who will also be affected by the scaling down of services.

A Department of Child Safety spokeswoman confirmed it was aware of Mercy Community’s decision, affirming “no child will be left without care”.

“This decision will mean the support given by Mercy Community to foster and kinship carers in Queensland’s southeast and southwest regions will be carried out by another provider,” she said.

“We will work closely with Mercy Community, our other providers, and our foster and kinship carers to manage this transition.”

Mercy Community chief executive Justin Lorenz said the necessary decision had been made after a strategic review, and ensured a “sound foundation” for the charity’s future.

The move would ensure it can fund the remediation of identified historical underpayment to current and former staff.

It’s estimated 1700 current and former staff at Mercy Community have been underpaid at least $9m. The underpayment was caused by the incorrect application of an industrial award several years ago.

“Mercy Community cares deeply about the health and wellbeing of the people we support, and we will continue to care for them until new arrangements are in place,” Mr Lorenz said.

“(We are) grateful to all our employees for their dedication and contribution to Mercy Community and the people we support.

“Consultation with impacted employees has commenced and Mercy Community will ensure all employees are supported through this change. The relevant unions have been notified.”

Just a month ago, in a post on LinkedIn, Mercy Community celebrated Australia’s longest-serving foster carer — an 81-year-old with 60 years of services under her belt — while praising the team that had worked with the woman for the last 14 years.

Mercy Community will continue to operate its aged care services, disability support services outside of supported independent living, and family and young people services excluding foster, kinship, residential care and asylums seeker services at the Romero Centre.

The charity is the latest to pull specific services after leading organisation Churches of Christ, in June 2023, pulled out of its contract with the government to deliver care to the state’s most vulnerable children over funding concerns.