Gold Coast youth crime: Inside story of city’s ‘missing kids’ shame

A northern Gold Coast mum offering a safe haven for ‘missing kids’ has lifted the lid on the city’s youth crime crisis and offered a must-read warning for parents.

A northern Gold Coast mum offering a safe haven for what she calls the city’s “missing kids” says more youth programs are desperately needed to save “bored” teens from a life of crime.

Pimpama’s Toni Edwards has been on the front line of the city’s youth crime crisis.

For months, she welcomed teen runaways or “missing kids” into her home to stop them from going onto the streets.

Now she’s launched a free community barbecue each Friday night at Bim’bimba Park as a way to reconnect teens with their parents and try to keep them out of trouble.

Ms Edwards started the initiative out of “necessity” when she reported her own teenage son as missing.

“It was happening in my home and I started reporting him as missing,” she said.

“And then, of course, at first you are overwhelmed, you worry and you call the police because it’s out of the ordinary.

“But then they would come home maybe 24 hours later, but it’s still enough to make a parent worry.

“I would get upset with him and say, ‘hey, what’s going on?’”

Toni Edwards holds a free community barbecue every Friday night in Pimpama where at risk teens can come to have a meal. Picture: Glenn Campbell

After her own experience, Ms Edwards started welcoming her son’s friends and other teens into her home so they wouldn’t be roaming the streets.

“I even started buying snacks, drinks and water just so they would stay nearby.”

The Pimpama mum said it was normal to have eight teenagers staying at her house at any one time.

But after police started knocking on her door, she decided it was best to offer a safe haven for them in a public space.

Ms Edwards said only a small number of children she came in contact with were committing crimes.

“There are some particular ones committing those types of crimes, which is influencing the majority,” she said.

“So I’ve kind of been able to identify those ones and I have managed to keep the younger ones separate.

“Some of them have got an early wake up call, because there have been accidents.”

Teens are roaming the streets because they’re bored, Toni Edwards says. Generic image.

Ms Edwards said she recently received a call from a teen girl who had been a passenger in a stolen car that crashed on the highway.

The girl called asking Ms Edwards to pick her up because she was too scared to ring her parents.

Since she launched the community barbecue initiative several weeks ago, the Pimpama mum has received positive feedback from the community

Ms Edwards said more formalised programs were needed to continue the progress that had already been made.

“The word is getting out, so the kids are starting to come,” she said.
“I’m just looking forward to what happens next. Hopefully other parents become involved and implement some strategies.”

The community barbecue is held every Friday night at Bim’bimba Park, Pimpama.

All parents and children are welcome.