May 19, 2025
The State Government has announced a Commission of Inquiry into Child Safety after statistics have linked “out-of-home” care for juveniles to serious repeat offenders.
According to the government, more than 100 of the State’s most serious young criminals – along with other young offenders on strict supervised youth justice orders – are living in the out-of-home care system.
There are 388 young people aged between 10 and 17 in Queensland who have been labelled as “serious repeat offenders” by authorities.
Of these, 111 were subject to a child protection order in September 2024:
- 0 in foster care
- 5 in kinship care
- 25 in residential care
- 79 have other living arrangements which include hospital, detention centres, boarding schools, supported independent living and all other locations
- 2 are living at home
The commission will “investigate through case studies children subject to dual Youth Justice and Child Protection orders, or children under the Guardianship of the Department who have committed crimes that fall within the Making Queensland Safer Laws category; and determine the failures of policy, process and practice that contributed to these children choosing a life of crime”.
There are also 222 children under strict supervised youth justice orders living in the out-of-home care system.
According to the 2024 Census on children in out-of-home care on supervised youth justice orders:
- 67 per cent have been in care for longer than five years
- 77 per cent of them have had more than four placements
- 72 per cent have been excluded or suspended from school
- 56 per cent have self-harmed
- 40 per cent have attempted suicide
- 70 per cent have a diagnosed or suspected disability
The Commission of Inquiry will look at whether the current system is fully equipped to properly deal with high-risk children and how their time in care has played a part in their criminality.
