Shock letter: foster carer opens up about how kids are dying on Child Safety’s watch
An experienced foster carer has shared the heartbreaking impact the Child Safety crisis is having on Gold Coast children - after talks between Labor and the LNP disintegrated.
Gold Coast
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AN experienced foster carer has penned a heartfelt letter about the Child Safety crisis and how it is affecting Gold Coast children.
Aware Labor and the LNP cannot reach agreement on key reforms, the carer has pleaded with the government to take a bipartisan approach and turn Child Safety into a 24-7 response agency.
The carer has also confirmed reports written by the Bulletin about the cost and failings of resi-care.
Child Safety Minister Di Farmer is accused of “consistently taking the easy way out by hiding behind confidentiality and ignoring evidence that was consistently presented to her”.
This is an edited version of the letter:
“Our most vulnerable children are being placed in situations under the watch of the current Child Safety Department that are often far worse than those they were removed from. The recent report from the Queensland Audit Office found this to be true in over a third of the children placed in residential care.
“The number of children in resi-care has grown substantially under Ms Farmer’s watch. While originally resi-care was only to be used for older children unable to be placed in foster care — and not for children under 12 — this has become the go to placement for this government.
Resi-care is run by “not for profit” organisations who are making huge profits on each child. A base payment by this government to resi-care agencies is around $500,000 per year per child.
Some children are bringing in over $1 million per year. And the shocking reality is that what these organisations DO NOT (sic) spend on the child, is profit for their organisation. The result is one that reminds us more of Dickensian England than 21st Century Australia. Children without food, without sheets on their beds and not attending school are hallmarks of this system.
“And there is no incentive for the resi-care agencies to provide an environment that promotes a healthy lifestyle for these children as the less troubled the child, the less payment the agency receives. So for the resi-care agencies, having kids on the streets, using drugs, stealing cars and generally living on the streets, drastically improves their profits.
“Children in long term foster care, under this particular government, are being removed from long term foster carers in ever growing numbers. They are being taken from stable placements, from loving homes and sometimes, these are the only families these children have ever known. In these placements all the standards of care dictated by the Department of Child Safety are being met and yet, the children are still removed. They are then placed in resi and a life on the streets.
“Foster carers — many long term — are being pushed out of the system through false allegations. The number of carers leaving has markedly increased over the last three years. The industry is losing their knowledge and their commitment. New carers are not staying past their initial 12 months. All are citing the treatment of the Department of Child Safety as the reason for leaving. Every year, Queensland Foster and Kinship Care sends out surveys to all carers. Every year, the results of these surveys are published and the comments over the last three years have been increasingly damning.
“Carers are selectively invited to forums where the Department of Child Safety expects criticism of their performance. Carers are blocked from commenting in various forums, if they have anything negative to say about their treatment or the treatment of the children in their care.
“Queensland Foster and Kinship Care receive their funding from the Department of Child Safety. They are not able to speak up for fear of their funding disappearing. So, effectively there is no real support for foster carers in Queensland.
“There is no willingness by this Government, particularly under the auspices of Ms Farmer and with Ms Palaszczuk as Premier to make any real changes. The LNP have offered them a chance to make real changes, changes that would benefit the most vulnerable children in this state. Ms Farmer is not interested.
“Ms Palaszczuk refuses to be part of the process at all. Emails to the Premier result in a response that tells you it is not her problem. Emails to Ms (Grace) Grace, the Education Minister, detailing issues of specific children in residential care not attending school, results in a response that says it is not her responsibility.
“The LNP gave the ALP a chance to work towards a better child protection system in this state, but despite all the evidence telling them that a major overhaul was required, they have refused to enter into any negotiations. Sixteen children have died in the last four years. Many others have gone unnoticed. Children are dying in resi. Children are dying on the streets.
Young children are self harming and attempting suicide in residential care in Queensland.
“As a former foster carer of over 20 years, who has lived through hell in the past 3 years, for simply advocating for the children in our care, we have witnessed a Department that was struggling, become a Department in total crisis. Staff are leaving, carers are leaving, children are dying.
“This Government has wasted a huge opportunity to make a difference to our most vulnerable children. From Cairns, to Roma, to Coolangatta and everywhere in between, the system has lost the plot.”
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