Queensland Government
Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services

Table of contents:

Child protection summary statistics, Queensland, 2006-07 to 2010-11

 2006-072007-082008-092009-102010-11
Intake
Intakes 70,126 71,885 83,070 101,356 112,518
Child concern reports 41,615 46,882 59,662 79,471 90,863
Notifications 28,511 25,003 23,408 21,885 21,655
Children subject to a child concern report 32,477 36,392 44,589 55,080 60,553
Children subject to a notification 24,102 22,333 20,959 19,636 19,353
Investigation and assessment
Admissions to assessment orders 2,253 2,958 3,321 2,455 2,304
Temporary assessment orders 716 1,407 1,612 1,223 1,198
Court assessment orders 1,537 1,551 1,709 1,232 1,106
Substantiations 10,108 8,028 7,315 6,922 6,598
In need of protection - 4,038 4,397 4,287 4,237
Not in need of protection - 3,990 2,918 2,635 2,361
Children subject to a substantiation 8,845 7,331 6,628 6,218 5,941
Ongoing intervention (a)
Total children subject to ongoing intervention - 8,263 10,647 10,606 10,327
Intervention with parental agreement 1,389 1,490 2,821 2,580 1,956 (c)
Child protection orders (CPO) 6,272 6,942 7,826 8,026 8,371
Children subject to protective orders (CPO and CAO) 6,391 7,040 7,942 8,090 8,456
Children living away from home 6,493 7,134 7,590 7,809 8,063
Percent of Indigenous children living away from home placed with kin, other Indigenous carers or Indigenous residential care services 58.5 56.7 58.2 53.8 52.5
Approved carer families 3,227 3,705 4,082 4,043 (b) 4,125

Notes:

  • 1. The definitions used for each indicator are identified in the relevant tables on the Our performance site.
  • (a) Figures are point in time, as at final day of reference period.
  • (b) From 31 August 2009, enhancements to the Integrated Client Management System took place, including an audit and cleansing of carer records. This included closing down those records where a carer was no longer caring for a child, or the approval was no longer valid. As a result, carer families data reported for 30 September 2009 and onwards are not comparable to previous years. If the enhancements to ICMS had not occurred, it is estimated the number of carer families would have increased over 30 June 2009 levels by approximately 70 carer families per quarter. For example, as at 30 September 2009 the number of carer families would have been approximately 4,150.
  • (c) Prior to 2010-11 reporting, an audit and cleansing of intervention with parental agreement records in the Integrated Client Management System (ICMS) took place. This included closing down historical records where a child was no longer subject to intervention with parental agreement. As a result, data reported for 30 June 2011 and onwards is not comparable to previous years.

Tables

DescriptionAnnualQuarterly
SS.1: Child protection summary statistics, five-year trend, Queensland Excel (XLS, 31 KB) Excel (XLS, 29 KB)
SS.2: Child protection summary statistics, ten-year trend, Queensland Excel (XLS, 33 KB)  

Impacts on data over time

Since 2004, the Queensland child protection system has undergone a period of significant reform. This has resulted in changes to all aspects of the child protection system including legislation, policies and practices, information management systems, recording practices, staffing and services. As a consequence, data for a number of key measures are not strictly comparable across years.

The summary of key child protection system reforms, Queensland 2003-04 to 2010-2011 highlights the events in Queensland's child protection history that have impacted on performance figures.

Summary of key child protection system reforms, Queensland, 2003-04 to 2010-11

  • October 2003 Public hearings abuse in foster care
  • January 2004 CMC enquiry report
  • September 2004 Department of Child Safety formed. Recording of notification and substantiations relating to unborn children commenced
  • February 2005 New police operational policy regarding domestic violence
  • March 2005 Protective advice responses no longer recorded as notifications
  • August 2005 Mandatory reporting for doctors and nurses
  • April 2006 Statewide implementation of Structured Decision Making tools
  • May 2006 Further legislative amendments enacted
  • March 2007 ICMS went live. Changes to recording of notifications
  • August 2007 Updated release of ICMS to enable greater functionality
  • August 2009 Updated release of ICMS to enable greater functionality for recording information and managing placements and carers
  • November 2010 Updated release of ICMS to enable enhanced management of the carer recruitment and approval process
  • March 2011 Regional Intake Services (RIS) established, recording intakes for each region