Grandma foster carer calls out child safety dept after grandson taken away

A little boy is sobbing, refusing to let go of his grandmother as he is bundled into a car on a Townsville street and taken away from the only safe home he’s ever had. Now, his grandmother is fighting back against the higher powers to get her boy back.

A LITTLE boy is sobbing, refusing to let go of his grandmother as he is bundled into a car on a Townsville street and taken away from the only safe home he’s ever had.

The horrifying incident has left his grandmother beside herself with grief and shock at how this could happen, and demanding the Department of Child Safety be overhauled.

The boy, now 3, came into his grandmother’s care in April last year when his parents were deemed unable to care for him.

She took him with open arms, just like she had done with his older siblings.

“He was closer to me than my shadow,” she told the Bulletin.

When the boy came into his grandmother’s care he was non-verbal, traumatised, rattled by night terrors, and had a concerning ability to rock himself to sleep.

A year later he was starting to speak, began trusting people and his walls were coming down thanks to a loving and nurturing environment.

But the department didn’t see eye-to-eye with the boy’s grandmother, who has 40 years of experience as an early childhood educator, believing he needed to be enrolled in two days of full-time daycare to progress.

The grandmother was then given a Standard of Care Review where it was determined her care wasn’t meeting the department’s standards.

The review highlighted concerns surrounding lack of communication with the department, unsupervised visits and unwillingness to enrol him in daycare.

“All I asked was for him to have a chance to settle in a safe and nurturing home environment and then look at daycare,” she said.

“As he was settling and making great progress with his speech and being able to put words and actions together to achieve outcomes, I asked for him to be placed in family day care to introduce him to new environments where there were a maximum of four children, two morning per week.”

But the department disagreed. A month later, the department took the little boy away.

“Instead of giving my suggestion a chance to work (they) have removed him,” the grandmother said.

The boy’s room now sits empty, stuffed toys still laying on the unmade bed his grandmother can’t bring herself to make.

She has been a foster carer for 17 years and never had any issue with the department.

She quit her job to care for children, and dedicated her life to raising them.

She says pressure started to mount on her ability as a carer after raising a complaint to the department and the minister.

“I have heard of other carers being treated this way but thought that has been rectified based on the advertisements I see on television and newspapers,” she said.

“I see it as false advertising.”

She said immediate change is needed, including more communication with carers and more feedback.

“Be flexible with them, and treat us with more respect,” she said.

A spokeswoman from the department said removing a child from a situation was difficult.

“Departmental staff must act in line with the expectations and legislative obligations of the public service and are subject to employee disciplinary action where allegations are substantiated,” she said.

The decision to remove a child from a carer’s care is a reviewable decision under the Child Protection Act 1999.

The carer can seek a review of the decision by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Originally published as Grandma foster carer calls out child safety dept after grandson taken away