Ongoing intervention by the department is only required when it is determined that a child is in need of protection. In 2010-11, there were 4,237 substantiations where the child was in need of protection. When ongoing intervention is required, a case plan is developed in conjunction with the child or young person and their family.
Departmental intervention is often achieved without the need for a child protection order. Rather, we will work with parental consent to meet the protection and care needs of the child. In these circumstances, it is essential that parents are both willing and able to cooperate with the department.
A decision to work on an ongoing voluntary basis with a family requires opening an intervention with parental agreement case. In most cases the child will remain at home.
Where it is not possible for the department to work with parental consent to protect a child, an application is made to the Childrens Court for a child protection order. A variety of order types can be granted by the court, including non-custodial orders, short-term custody or guardianship orders and long-term guardianship orders. Custody or guardianship can be granted to the chief executive (Director-General) of the department, or to a suitable person.
In conjunction with ongoing intervention, the department sometimes needs to remove a child from their home to ensure their safety. When a child needs to be removed from their home, the department uses various out-of-home care placement services including home-based care (foster, kinship and provisionally approved carers) and residential care services.
Whenever possible, the department seeks to place a child or young person with extended family (kinship carers) in order to maintain family connections.
When placing an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child in out-of-home care, a culturally appropriate placement is sought in accordance with the Indigenous Child Placement Principle.
Table of contents:
Graphs
Number of children subject to ongoing intervention, by Indigenous status, Queensland, as at 30 June, 2008 to 2011
| Year | Indigenous | Non-Indigenous |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 2596 | 5667 |
| 2009 | 3606 | 7041 |
| 2010 | 3838 | 6768 |
| 2011 | 3891 | 6436 |
Tables
| Description | Annual | Quarterly |
|---|---|---|
| OI.1: Children subject to ongoing intervention, by ongoing intervention type and Indigenous status, Queensland | Excel | Excel |
| OI.2: Children subject to ongoing intervention, by ongoing intervention type and child safety zone, Queensland | Excel | |
| OI.3: Children subject to ongoing intervention, by ongoing intervention type and region, Queensland | Excel | Excel |
Trends
The number of children subject to ongoing intervention decreased by 2.7 per cent from 10,606 as at 30 June 2010 to 10,327 as at 30 June 2011. Of the total number of children subject to ongoing intervention as at 30 June 2011 1,956 children were subject to intervention with parental agreement (18.9 per cent) and 8,371 were subject to a child protection order (81.1 per cent).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License