QFCC calls for reform to kinship carer assessment

The Queensland Family and Child Commission calls for reform to remove barriers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kin caring for their family members.

The safety of children remains paramount and the removal of the Working with Children screening process (Blue Cards) will not compromise the safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

The current universal Blue Card system is designed to assess suitability for child-related employment, not suitability to care for family members. Cultural kinship care is family caring for family – it is not employment.

The Queensland Family and Child Commission (QFCC) is calling for the requirement for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kinship carers to hold a Blue Card be removed, allowing more children to be raised safely with family and retain their connection to Country and culture.

The QFCC’s “Thematic analysis of provisionally approved kinship carers who receive a subsequent Blue Card negative notice” report has found the Blue Card scheme’s focus on employment suitability, rather than suitability to care for kin, gave limited consideration to the child’s best interests.

Removing the Working with Children screening process (Blue Cards) would not put children’s safety at risk, with the Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services (DCSSDS) to continue to conduct comprehensive assessment and approval processes of all prospective kinship carers, including criminal history checks. As outlined in the report, evidence of disqualifying offences within a criminal history report will result in a determination that the person is unsuitable to provide statutory kinship care.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle provides a framework for ensuring that children stay connected with kin, culture and Country. Despite this, far too many First Nations children are being placed and raised away from their families, culture and Country. Queensland has the second lowest rate of placement with First Nations kin (21.7%) in Australia.i

The Blue Card process has long been identified by stakeholders as a significant impediment to higher rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Kinship care. The proposed change would increase the number of children being placed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family, and lead to improved outcomes for these children. The report can be viewed at https://www.qfcc.qld.gov.au/sector/monitoring-and-reviewing-systems/Blue-card-negative-notices-for-Kinship-carers-analysis 

Quotes attributed to QFCC Commissioner Natalie Lewis

“The current Working With Children (Risk Management and Screening) Act 2000, also known as the Blue Card system, assesses suitability for child-related employment, not suitability as a kinship carer. Caring for family, supporting cultural continuity and connection is what we do as family. It is not employment.

“An inability to resolve the constraints of the current system will mean more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children will continue to be placed with strangers or in residential care instead of with kin, and that is not in the best interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and therefore not acceptable.

“Importantly, the safety of children will not be compromised, with all prospective kinship carers undergoing rigorous departmental child safety checks and criminal history checks. Disqualifying offences (such as offences against children) will continue to be grounds for a finding of unsuitability as a kinship carer.

“Removing Blue Card screening is a small step towards redressing the historical and contemporary practices of over surveillance, inter-generational child removal, over policing and inequitable access to justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Queensland.

“It doesn’t matter how much we tinker at the edges of the Blue Card system and its processes; it will not have the cultural capability or authority to reverse the enduring impact of removing a child from kin, culture, and Country.”

ENDS

For media information contact:
Kirstine O’Donnell | Queensland Family and Child Commission
Phone:  0404 971 164
Email:    media@qfcc.qld.gov.au

i. Family Matters Australia. 2022. The Family Matters Report 2022: Measuring trends to turn the tide o the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care in Australia.

https://www.familymatters.org.au/wpcontent/uploads/2022/11/20221123-Family-Matters-Report-2022-1.pdf