Shock reoffending rates of kids in care blamed on ineffective support
Concerned Cairns youth workers have claimed limited access to internet, Centrelink services, clothing and food is a significant factor contributing to reoffending rates of children in state care.
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Concerned Cairns youth workers have claimed limited access to internet, Centrelink services, clothing and food is a significant factor contributing to reoffending rates of children in state care.
Though the Department of Child Safety states Wi-Fi access at suburban residential care homes is dependent on a “tailored individual case plan”, it’s claimed the issuing of outdated mobile phones and limited help to navigate the challenging MyGov portal is putting pressure on state wards to break the law.
And when released from Cleveland Youth Detention Centre, it often falls to non-government, independently-funded organisations to kit kids up with clothes and shoes after re-entering the community.
Manoora grandmother and former health care worker Shirley Tognola acts as an informal carer to a number of neighbourhood kids in state care that often abscond from residential care homes.
When entering resi care, children are given a linen, room decor and a socks/ jocks allowance, as well as a $200 Telstra phone and a monthly toiletry budget but Ms Tognola claims kids often don’t receive what they are entitled to, or are not physically at the home to collect necessities, including pocket money, if jobs are completed.
She said there’s a direct link between reoffending rates and children stealing to get basic needs met.
“It’s caused by a lack of support, children are let out of Cleveland with mental health issues that have not been addressed and Child Safety is not giving them what they need,” she said.
Ms Tognola claimed children released from detention in Townsville have been placed on flights arriving in Cairns at midnight, without a pick-up usually organised by the police co-responder team.
“Why are they giving kids a brick phone, they can’t send emails or do resumes and they get cut off (Centrelink benefits) because they don’t receive email,” she said.
In a shock finding revealed on Tuesday, new Productivity Commission data revealed more than half of Queensland youths sentenced to detention or probation are back before court within 12 months.
The Sunshine State led the nation in reoffending rates of children aged 10-17 in 2019-20, when 56.8 per cent of minors sentenced to either detention, probation, bail or parole were back before the court within a year.
A Department of Child Safety spokesman responded to questions asked by the Cairns Post relating to support of children in state care to state but stopped short of addressing claims resi kids steal because they are hungry or need clothes.
“Funded residential care services are required and funded to meet direct care costs for young people in accordance with their complex needs. This includes food and clothing,” the spokesman said.
“Residential care services are required to support young people prepare for independence which includes supporting young people to access MyGov and other platforms as required under their case plan.”
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