Queensland's Child Safety Commission of Inquiry has revealed a billion-dollar residential care system that has left vulnerable children exposed to abuse and neglect.
The inquiry was announced by the state government last year to fix issues across the child safety sector.
The final report has made 52 recommendations to the government to address what it has labelled serious failures, including the "gross over-representation" of First Nations children.
Queensland Attorney-General Deb Frecklington said the state's government is considering the recommendations, with reform to come.
“The Commission’s findings are deeply concerning," the Queensland Attorney-General said.
“We will carefully consider every recommendation ... as we work to rebuild a child safety system focused on protection, accountability and better outcomes for children and young people.”
The report said the gross over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the child protection system is a matter of grave concern.
First Nations children make up almost half of all children in out-of-home care in Queensland, despite representing less than 10 per cent of the child population of the state.
The report shows they are increasingly being placed in residential care settings disconnected from family, kin, culture and Country.
Residential care, a billion dollar blowout
The report reveals Queensland has almost as many children in residential care as every other state and territory combined.
The residential care model is designed as a transitional group-home environment for typically older youth whose complex trauma or behavioural needs prevent them from being placed in foster or kinship care.
The commission found government policy has relied "too heavily" on residential care, which has become a billion-dollar sector despite failing to provide better outcomes and improved safety of children.
An analysis of critical incident reports found around 67 per cent of reports of sexual abuse of children in care involved children placed in residential care.
Findings show the Queensland government repeatedly failed to make timely and sustained investment in family-based care and early intervention, contributing to a 200 per cent increase in residential care placements since March 2015.
The report has recommended a complete overhaul of the residential care system, instead recommending a prioritisation of out-of-home care as a "coherent system" that would offer more consistent care and reduce "unsuitable or unnecessarily restrictive settings".
The overarching recommendation of the report calls for the Queensland government to re-focus its efforts and resources to prioritise all models of family-based care over residential care.
Speaking in parliament following the report's release, Queensland Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm announced children under the age of five will be removed from residential care.
The Queensland government has also established a cabinet sub-committee and is expected to formally respond to the report within two months.
A system in 'urgent need of change'
The inquiry is the third review into the system since 2004 and involved almost 50 hearings held over 10 months across Cairns, Brisbane and Townsville.
Led by Commissioner Paul Anastassiou KC, the inquiry received over 1000 submissions and heard from 70 witnesses including young people in the system, frontline workers, family members, and community organisations.
“It is moving to see how many people, with direct or indirect experience of the child safety system from around Queensland, came forward to make a submission to the Commission,” Commissioner Anastassiou said.
“It clearly shows a strong belief within the community that the child safety system is in urgent need of change to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and young people now and into the future."
Queensland's peak body for child and family services, PeakCare, has welcomed the report but says it is only the first step.
“The Inquiry's final report being handed to government represents the passing of the baton, not the finish line," PeakCare CEO Kelly Jebb said.
"The next phase is implementation and PeakCare and the sector stand ready to work with the Government to implement this important reform agenda and to improve the child protection system and outcomes for all children and families together.”
First Nations stakeholders against adoption
Despite citing strong submissions from First Nations stakeholders against adoption, the report calls for greater access to adoption.
In the report, Commissioner Anastassiou, recommended the Queensland Government commence a feasibility study to assess how the concept of "simple adoption" could be incorporated into the Adoption Act 2009.
He noted "the availability of adoption should not be limited by cultural background or ethnicity".
He also recommended the Child Protection Act 1999 be amended to to entrench adoption as the third permanency option for "all children regardless of cultural background".
Commissioner Anastassiou argued that the "permanency hierarchy" for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children means adoption is rarely, if ever, considered.
The hierarchy is guided by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle which was developed in the 1970s to respond to the devastating impacts of child removal policies, including those that led to the Stolen Generations.
The hierarchy prioritises family-led decision-making and ensure out-of-home care placements are made within extended family, kin, and community to maintain cultural identity where possible.
