Qld housing ignored boys in squalor: Ombudsman
Queensland’s housing department failed to recognise or act on repeated warning signs that two profoundly disabled boys were living in squalor and potential danger, a new Ombudsman investigation has found.
Queensland’s housing department failed to recognise or act on repeated warning signs that two profoundly disabled boys were living in squalor and potential danger, a new Ombudsman investigation has found.
The Department of Housing has now been ordered to overhaul its policies on how staff managing social housing identify and respond to child protection risks.
The report, released on November 26, examined whether existing practices were capable of preventing the kind of catastrophic harm experienced by Kaleb and Jonathon, two Queensland boys who suffered years of chronic neglect before being discovered in 2020 after their father died.
A Royal Commission that investigated the horrific case had previously found the Housing Department failed to share information internally or alert Child Safety to the increasingly unhygienic and hazardous state of the boys’ home.
The Ombudsman’s review found those failures were rooted in inconsistent guidance, patchy record-keeping and an absence of mandatory child-protection training for frontline officers.
The case history shows years of escalating red flags were documented but not treated as possible child-safety issues.
During a 2015 inspection, officers recorded that the children’s bedroom contained “nothing … except an inflated mattress” without bedding.
An internal complaint checklist even noted “child safety concerns?” — but no action was taken.
By 2019, contractors had repeatedly warned the department that the house was in a “disgusting condition,” in an “extremely poor hygienic state,” and that the stench was overwhelming, including dog faeces inside the home.
The Department of Housing responded by asking the father to clean the property.
There was no evidence the department considered these signs as potential harm to the children.
The department has since acknowledged its officers could have escalated concerns to managers, referred the family to support services, or notified Child Safety.
The Ombudsman report has made 11 recommendations, including mandatory and regular child-protection training, improved information systems to ensure concerns recorded in one database replicate across others and a new process requiring officers to assess contractor reports as potential child-safety risks. Housing Director-General Mark Cridland, in response to the Ombudsman report, said recommendations would be considered.
Housing Minister Sam O’Connor said the report reflected a “deeply distressing case that should have never happened”.“The experiences of Kaleb and Jonathon are heartbreaking, and their story reinforces the importance of safeguarding vulnerable Queenslanders in every aspect of government services,” he said.
“I have asked the Department to carefully consider each recommendation and provide advice on their implementation. Where improvements are needed, they will be made.
“Our focus is on ensuring that the housing system is more responsive, more accountable, and better connected with disability and child safety services so that no Queenslander falls through the cracks again.”
Originally published as Qld housing ignored boys in squalor: Ombudsman
