Child Safety Crisis: Gold Coast MP Ros Bates accuses department of focusing on name change instead of troubled kids
Child Safety has been accused of “focusing on a name change” instead of overhauling the system after it was revealed a fresh report is filed on a troubled child every four minutes.
Gold Coast
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CHILD Safety has been accused of “focusing on a name change” instead of overhauling the system after it was revealed a fresh report is filed on a troubled child every four minutes.
Labor and the LNP have been unable to reach a solution despite shocking figures showing more than a third of children reported had parents who were meth users, a Bulletin report on Wednesday revealed.
A letter to State Parliament also showed the Palaszczuk Government - and surveyed respondents - rejected the Opposition’s “Child Protection Force” solution, which would see officers working 24-7 to help kids on the street.
Children and Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard wrote in the letter the Government would not be renaming the department but proposing to Shadow Minister Amanda Camm both sides “continue to work together”.
Ms Linard said the term “force” would be “counter-productive to supporting families and children”.
Mudgeeraba MP and Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates hit back at her comments, accusing them of not “fixing the culture” in the Child Safety department.
“18 dead children in five years under Labor and all they can do is fight over the department’s name,” she said.
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“The system is broken and Queensland needs a strong Minister with a plan to protect children.
“The LNP put forward credible policies while Labor had nothing to offer. Just like Anna Bligh, Labor is focusing on a name change rather than fixing the culture of a department that has failed vulnerable kids for years.”
Ms Linard told an Estimates hearing on Tuesday that Child Safety was “responding to more child protection notifications than ever”.
“(They’re also) responding faster to the most urgent,” she said.
“Average case loads per child safety officer are around 18, down from 21 under the former government.”
Asked to respond to Ms Bates’ accusation outside Parliament, she said: “As the Minister for Children and Youth Justice, my hope is to be able to work constructively with the (Amanda Camm), with whom I’ve had preliminary discussions.
“To that end, in my first week in this portfolio, I wrote to her proposing the opposition and the government engage in a more constructive discussion around our child protection system.
“This is about putting children first and putting politics aside.”
EARLIER
CHILD Safety is receiving a fresh report on a troubled child every four minutes with more than third having parents who are meth users — but Labor and the LNP cannot reach agreement on a solution.
A letter to State Parliament reveals the Palaszczuk Government has rejected the Opposition’s solution of a Child Protection Force which would see a multi-agency response with officers working 24-7 to help kids on the street.
The Bulletin in August last year in a report outlined how the child safety system could be overhauled in an unprecedented alliance between the LNP and Labor, which would see compulsory drug testing without second chances for parents, recruiting more foster parents, and police investigating high risk cases.
But the letter from Children and Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard said the Government would not be renaming the Department. She added that she had written to new Opposition child safety spokesperson Amanda Camm proposing both sides “continue to work together”.
“The use of a term like ‘force’ implies a punitive action, which would be counterproductive to supporting families and children,” Ms Linard wrote.
She said PeakCare Queensland and Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak had released a report in September on the LNP’s proposal.
“Of nearly 2000 respondents, 61.57 per cent disagreed with the proposal, with the majority raising concerns about negative connotations of the term ‘force’,” Ms Linard wrote.
The Bulletin in a series of special reports in the past 12 months has exposed serious failings in the system with a 12-year-old former choir girl under foster care in a loving family joining a teenage gang and resorting to prostitution and drugs to stay alive on the streets.
In November, an exclusive photograph showed another four teenagers who were homeless, living in a tent outside the State Government department office on the Coast.
The letter from Ms Linard defends the Government’s record including a $1.3 billion budget in 2019-20 and increasing staff to 197 by the end of 2023-24 including an extra 39 frontline officers in the past 12 months.
But the response to the LNP’s proposal does not hide the pressures faced by the system.
“Despite significant investment and reform, the system faces increasing pressures and demand,” Ms Linard wrote.
“The department has received more than 125,000 reports over the past 12 months, or one every four minutes. While the drivers of this demand are complex and relate to multiple portfolios, including health, justice, housing and education, the department is committed to providing a frontline response to support families under pressure and keep Queensland children safe.
“There are currently almost 10,200 children in care, 670 more than last year. Further, over a third of children (38 per cent) who came into care during the 12 months to March 2020, had a parent with current or previous methamphetamine use recorded, up from 36 per cent the previous year.”
Ms Linard said mandatory drug testing was in place where drug use had been suspected and it remained safe for children to be in the care of their parents.
“The department works closely with the Queensland Police Service through the multi-agency Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect Team System, information sharing and mandatory reporting processes. A co-responder model also allows after-hours child safety teams to collaborate with police when it is necessary to remove a child at risk of harm during the night or attend high-risk situations,” she said.
“This intensive work families is resulting in positive outcomes, with fewer children (3995) in the 12 months to March 2020 assessed as being in need of protection at the end of investigations compared to 2012-13 pre-reform figures (4460), despite more investigations being commenced.”
Child Safety will be debated during Estimates hearings at State Parliament in Brisbane on Tuesday.
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