Roadmap fails to reform residential care

-The Queensland Family and Child Commission (QFCC) says the government’s Residential Care Roadmap has failed to meet its objectives and has not delivered vital reform needed to improve the lives of Queensland children.

-The assessment found government continues to over-rely on residential care, while failing to take the necessary steps to deliver bold system reform and improve the standard of care delivered to children.

-The number of children living in residential care has increased since the roadmap’s implementation started in early 2024.

The Queensland Government’s Residential Care Roadmap was released in February 2024, comprising 31 actions to improve and strengthen the delivery of residential care services for Queensland children and reduce the proportion of children in residential care.

QFCC Principal Commissioner Luke Twyford was tasked with providing expert advice on and oversight of the roadmap’s five-year implementation, releasing the first assessment on its progress in delivering change. Informed by extensive engagement across Queensland with child safety and frontline workers and with children living in residential care, the assessment found the roadmap has failed to deliver the system reform intended nor deliver any real benefit to Queensland children living in residential care.

Almost 2100 children and young people now live in residential care in Queensland, including more than 1200 children younger than 14 and almost 50 children younger than 5. This number has grown 19 per cent since the Queensland Government’s review into the residential care system began more than a year ago, with the number of children younger than 4 increasing by 44 per cent.

The assessment made four observations

1. The actions have not been sufficiently bold or broad ranging – While the roadmap proposed a range of actions to deliver foundational reform—including trialling new models of care, a review of service delivery standards, and a new residential care workforce strategy—none have been completed in the first year as planned, and the old system continues to operate.
2. Action has been too slow and the impact on children in residential care has been ignored – The actions that would deliver the greatest change were delayed against the planned implementation timeline and other less impactful actions were prioritised, meaning little change was delivered in the first year.
3. A culture of fear and defensiveness has impacted transparency and skewed priorities – The lack of transparency and reluctance to provide data about the system’s performance has impacted the speed and success of implementation of roadmap actions.
4. Young people are excluded from the reforms and continue to live in substandard homes – The number of children in residential care continues to increase, with many reporting a lack of awareness of the roadmap or the review that informed it.

The assessment recommends the Queensland Government revisit the Residential Care Roadmap and develop a new strategy that will improve the life outcomes for Queensland children in care.

It highlights that any renewed approach must build on the actions in the roadmap and will be successful only if the department prioritises transparency around system performance, regularly engages with children living in residential care, and genuinely commits to innovative and tailored approaches that support the workforce to better protect the wellbeing and safety of children.

The report, Too little, too late, is published at www.qfcc.qld.gov.au

Quotes attributed to QFCC Principal Commissioner Luke Twyford:

“Every child in Queensland deserves to live in a loving, stable and safe home—we know that the residential care system as it currently exists does not provide this.

“We are seeing Queensland’s reliance on residential care grow, as more and more children are placed in residential care, but we aren’t seeing any discernible improvement to the quality of care they receive—these outcomes are at odds with the objectives of roadmap.

“In completing my first monitoring report, it is clear that the roadmap has not enabled bold, urgent and impactful change needed to profoundly transform our residential care system.

“Instead, I have found an ongoing propensity to continue tinkering with our existing, ineffective system and a reluctance to prioritise the initiatives that would enable change, such as improving service standards or introducing a care continuum and performance framework.

“I was clear in my initial response to the roadmap that children’s views, experiences and participation would be central to the success of any change, yet I continue to meet young Queenslanders who are unaware of the review process, the roadmap, or any plans to reform their homes.

“If we are serious about effecting meaningful change for these young Queenslanders, we need to stop putting them in houses we wouldn’t choose for our own children.

“I am calling on the Queensland Government to revisit Queensland’s approach to reforming residential care in Queensland, including reconsidering the timing, priorities and scope for many of the worthy actions in the roadmap and implementing them with urgency. 

“The Queensland Family and Child Commission is committed to working closely with government and the department to further develop actions needed to improve the residential care system and provide Queensland children the with all they need to feel safe, secure and supported.”
 

ENDS
 

The review of Queensland’s residential care system was led by the department formally known as the Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services. This department is now known as the Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety, following machinery-of-government changes.

For media information contact:

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