Editor’s view: Time to call time on systemic child safety service failures

An official inquiry into Queensland’s beleaguered child safety system is long overdue, writes the editor. But we’ve had inquiries before, and the system is still broken. This inquiry cannot be more of the same.

In June last year, there were 46 children under the age of four living in residential care. Picture: File photo

An official inquiry into Queensland’s beleaguered child safety system is long overdue.

For decades The Courier-Mail and The Sunday Mail have shone the spotlight on systemic failures within the broken system, including children who have suffered horrific abuse and even died while in the state’s care.

Others who have been so neglected they’ve turned to suicide or self-harm. Or for some kids, they turn to crime and end up trapped in the revolving door of the justice system.

These are our most vulnerable Queenslanders.

They deserve better.

And for too long governments on both sides have tinkered around the edges without committing to meaningful reform.

So, we welcome Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm’s announcement today of a
17-month inquiry, spearheaded by Federal Court Judge Paul Anastassiou into widespread failures within the $1.12bn care system.

Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm. Picture: Steve Pohlner

But we also put the minister and the Crisafulli government on notice because we’ve been here before.

We’ve had inquiries and reviews and reports. Plenty of them.

And the system in place to protect our children is still broken.

This inquiry cannot be more of the same. It cannot be a political point score for the Crisafulli government to merely attack the Opposition (although the Labor government, which has been in charge of the child safety system for the past decade, deserves to be closely investigated and held to account for the decisions it made that have got us to this point).

This inquiry must be about finding solutions and identifying the necessary funding and resourcing to ensure they are delivered.

Federal Court Judge Paul Anastassiou will spearhead the inquiry.

Two years ago, The Courier-Mail and The Sunday Mail exposed a litany of serious issues within the residential care system after whistleblowers – many of them carers – raised concerns about children’s safety and neglect inside these homes. They said kids were being abused by other children, disabled children were being left in urine-soaked incontinence pads, and young girls were being allowed to meet with dangerous adult boyfriends.

Extensive marijuana and alcohol use was also common, they said.

“The staff are constantly bashed, flogged, threatened – it’s become normal for them to say ‘let me use my bong or I’ll bash you’,” one carer said at the time.

Other carers also expressed disgust at the state of the homes and what was provided. One even noted the “providers are making millions from the government” – yet carers were being forced to buy essentials such as toilet paper and soap.

After our reports, the former state government conducted a six-month review and released its Residential Care Roadmap in February 2024.

In December, less than two months after the Crisafulli government came into power, the Queensland Family and Child Commission published a report in which it detailed how the previous government had gone in implementing the roadmap.

Almost half of children in care have experienced physical abuse before entering the system.

Commissioner Luke Twyford was scathing.

“It is clear that the department is not leading bold, urgent and impactful change to the residential care system,” he wrote.

“Instead, I have found an ongoing propensity to continue tinkering with the current ineffective system.

“Actions taken have invariably been those that benefit the Department, rather than those that benefit the children.”

He called for the new government to take action.

In September last year, there were 2093 kids living in residential care in Queensland. That is almost double the 1136 kids who were in the system in 2020.

In June last year, there were 46 children under the age of four living in residential care.

Let that sink in.

There are babies living in what are essentially halfway houses for children.

Underpinning this is one of the biggest issues facing Queensland’s child safety sector – the total lack of foster carers. This is acknowledged by Ms Camm in today’s report.

If the LNP state government can fix this issue, the flow-on effects will be immense.

Ms Camm said the inquiry will examine how the system got to this point, what decisions contributed to it and “how we find our way out of this”. That is the critical point.

Her final words are these: “We owe it to these vulnerable children to reform the system. We must act.”

Yes, Minister, you do. Make this inquiry count.

Originally published as Editor’s view: Time to call time on systemic child safety service failures