Queensland’s Child Safety Minister Phil Reeves today welcomed the release of the Child Guardian Report 2007-08 by the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian.
The Commission acts as Queensland’s Child Guardian under the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian Act 2000 to promote and protect the rights, interests and wellbeing of children in Queensland.
Mr Reeves said the Commission played a vital role as the independent monitor of child safety services in Queensland.
“We are all working together to protect our most vulnerable children and young people,” Mr Reeves said.
“This is sometimes a difficult job and the role of this report is to constructively identify areas that could be improved or revitalised.”
Mr Reeves said there were a number of positive aspects in the report that highlighted recent improvements in Queensland.
These include:
·The vast majority of child safety 24-hour response investigation and assessments were actioned within the required timeframe,
·The number of outstanding child protection notifications decreased by 28 per cent in the three months from 31 March to 30 June 2008.
·All cases not yet finalised have already been through a thorough pre-notification assessment process to ensure all urgent matters are dealt with, and
·Reliable evidence that children and young people overwhelmingly feel safe in out-of-home care.
“I am happy to report that since June 2008 there has been a further decrease of more than 1,000 in the number of outstanding child protection notifications,” Mr Reeves said.
“This shows that Child Safety Services has made many inroads on addressing outstanding child protection investigations, and have continued to do so since the Commission’s report was completed.
“The report also highlights the valuable role the Commission’s child visitors play in working in partnership with our child safety officers to ensure we are meeting the needs of children in care.”
Despite the positive report, Mr Reeves said Child Safety Services remained focussed on improving practice.
“While the report demonstrates the good work of Child Safety Services, it also lists a number of areas which could be improved. These include ‘transitioning from care’ children, or the successful transition to independence when a child becomes an adult. We recognise we could be providing greater support to these young people.
“Another area is reducing disproportionate number of Indigenous children in care. We will also focus on providing early intervention measures to ensure Indigenous parents can safely care for their children at home.
“As Minister, I will make it my priority to focus on these areas.”
Mr Reeves said bringing together Child Safety Services, Disability Services, Communities and Housing and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships under the same portfolio provided an opportunity to further strengthen responses to the needs of Queensland’s children and young people.
“This unprecedented move will facilitate greater opportunities for collaboration and policy and service integration between key agencies in line with the Government’s commitment to protecting vulnerable young Queenslanders.”
Media contact: Minister’s office 3224 7081
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