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Achievements

2020

April – June

  • Changing Tracks 2020-2022 was released by the Queensland First Children and Families Board – the second action plan under the Our Way strategy.
  • Carer Connect app updated to give short break carers access to critical information about children and young people placed with them, including Medicare Card numbers, any serious health conditions or disabilities and signed Authority to Care forms. Short break carers can also share posts to the kicbox app, view and add information under ‘Who am I’ and ‘Routines’ and submit any pre-approved child-related cost reimbursements.
  • Provided more than $696,000 in funding to expand the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program to deliver the new modules until 30 June 2023, in line with Recommendation 10 from the Australian first Anti-Cyberbullying Taskforce’s report.

January – March

  • Foster carer allowance extended to children who turn 19, regardless of their education status.
  • Carer Connect app updated with the ability for carers to submit child-related cost requests for reimbursement directly to the Child Safety Service Centre.
  • A discussion paper, Rethinking rights and regulation: towards a stronger framework for protecting children and supporting families (DOCX) was released proposing options for changes to the legislation in three focus areas:
    • Reinforcing children’s rights in the legislative framework
    • Strengthening children’s voices in decisions that affect them
    • Reshaping the regulation of care
  • The Unify program commenced its first Design Squad in preparation for designing and building the first product of 5 to be delivered in 2020. The first product – Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) will improve outcomes and services for a child or young person at the right time and place by providing all SCAN team core member agencies with easy access to information.
  • Authorised Child Safety staff gained access to the Queensland Police Service (QPS) Self-Service of Document Retrieval portal, which will expedite access to information from QPS to enhance decision-making and co-ordination of services to effectively meet the care and protection needs of children and their families.

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2019

October – December

  • The Bring a Smile to a Child 2019 Christmas Gift Donation Drive reached its target of more than 9,500 gifts donated by the public for children and young people living in care. 
  • Commencement of the 4-year Unify Program, which will transform the way the department does business and to replace the current Integrated Client Management System.
  • The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework and the Changing Tracks Evaluation Plan Overview were developed in partnership with the Queensland First Children and Families Board.
  • Queensland First Children and Families Board released its October communique. 

July – September

  • Public consultation extended for Queenslanders to comment and inform further changes to Queensland’s child protection legislation reform.
  • Extended the review period for the High Support Needs Allowance (296) (HSNA) and the Complex Support Needs Allowance (612) (CSNA) from six to 12 months.
  • Released Supporting Families Changing Futures 2019-2023 – the Government’s 5-year whole-of-government strategy for the final stage of the 10-year child and family reform program.
  • Carer Connect App updated with new Who am I and Welcome Pack features, making information about children and young people coming into, or already in care more accessible for carers.
  • Committed an additional 116 Child Safety frontline positions over the coming three years and funding for more than 5400 non-government organisation (NGO) positions, with $1.3 billion pledged to support the child protection system through early intervention and continue the Supporting Families Changing Futures reforms.

April – June

  • The Queensland First Children and Families Board hosted a facilitated forum to support the development of the second Changing Tracks Action Plan (2020-22).
  • Queensland First Children and Families Board released its June Communique.
  • 2019-20 State Budget included a further investment of $14.6 million over four years, to implement new and enhanced initiatives under the Our Way strategy and Changing Tracks action plans.
  • The 2019 Truth, Healing and Reconciliation Grants Program opened, offering one-off grants up to $10,000 for activities that will contribute to truth, healing and reconciliation of people with a lived experience of institutional child sexual abuse.
  • Marked the 20th Anniversary of the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions (The Forde Inquiry) on May 31.
  • The Changing Tracks Progress Report: May 2017-December 2018 was released by the Queensland First Children and Families Board and outlines the first stage of the strategy and actions to date.
  • Completed the Child Safety Officer recruitment campaign, which showcased videos of staff sharing their personal stories of changing the lives of vulnerable children and families.
  • Cyberbullying grants announced to protect children from cyberbullies and deliver initiatives to drive real and lasting change.

January – March

  • Foster carer allowance extended to children who turn 18 while still enrolled in school.
  • Implemented the second year of a four-year $2.6 million foster carer recruitment advertising campaign, between February and June.
  • Queensland First Children and Families Board released its March Communique.

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2018

October – December

  • On 19 November, the Queensland Government commenced participation in the National Redress Scheme for people who have experienced institutional child sexual abuse.
  • The Bring a smile to a child this Christmas gift donation drive reached its target of 9000 gifts for children and young people living in care across Queensland.
  • The final phase of the child protection legislation reforms came into effect; providing permanency and stability for children, now and throughout their lives, including support for young Queenslanders transitioning from care to adulthood until they reach 25 years; providing the safe care and connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with their families, communities and cultures; establishing a contemporary information sharing framework focused on children’s safety and wellbeing; and supporting implementation of other key reforms under the Supporting Families Changing Futures program.
  • Announcement of the new Ice Help campaign to curb the supply of the drug and treat those who need help, part of the five year $100 million Action on ice plan.
  • First meeting of the Truth, Healing and Reconciliation Taskforce, which was established in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
  • Established the Queensland First Children and Families Board to guide and oversee the implementation of the Our Way strategy and associated action plans, whilst championing the strategy and working to create shared responsibility and accountability between government, community and business sectors to achieve the vision.

July – September

  • Released the Supporting Families Changing Futures: 2018 Update, a progress report of the child protection and family support reform program.
  • The Truth, Healing and Reconciliation Taskforce was established with the appointment of members by the Minister for Child Safety, Youth and Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence.
  • Committed a further 56 Child Safety frontline and frontline support staff across the state on top of the already 365 positions created since 2016.
  • The latest phase of the child protection legislation reforms came into effect, making it easier for children on custody orders to be vaccinated and improve safety planning for children who remain in their homes under agreements between parents and Child Safety.
  • Launched trial of Treatment Foster Care Oregon program for children with complex needs to overcome significant trauma and go on to a bright future.
  • Launched $5.4 million Breakthrough for Families program to help Queensland families break the hold of ice and other drugs by giving them access to free, accessible information, and tailored strategies to help themselves and others.
  • Announced the recipients of the second round of the Empowering Families Innovation Grants, for ideas that seek to transform life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
  • Provided $11.95 million commitment to ensure the Triple P — Positive Parenting Program remains free for Queensland parents to access, through to 2020.
  • Launched Carer Connect app which connects Queensland foster and kinship carers with important information about a child or children in their care, including medical or educational history or other details that could help them to provide the best care.
  • Launched Child Safety Officer recruitment campaign that showed videos of staff sharing their personal stories of changing the lives of vulnerable children and families.
  • Legislation passed for approximately 10,000 Queensland child sex abuse victims to be able to seek redress through 3 ways — a monetary payment, access to counselling and psychological care, and the option to receive a direct personal response from the institution responsible for providing the redress.

April – June

  • The Queensland Government response to the Royal Commission was tabled in Parliament, with Queensland accepting in principle more than 240 recommendations.
  • The first of two Queensland trials to help victims of child sexual abuse and their family members access coordinated support and recover from their experiences was established in Gold Coast. The other trial will be established in Townsville.
  • Announced $600,000 in funding to support vulnerable families in Nambour, Palmwoods and Eumundi-Yandina to help them develop important life skills and help them manage in challenging times so they can focus on caring for and nurturing their children.
  • Opened 33 family wellbeing services to reduce the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the child protection system.
  • Launched SafeCare trial of an intensive family support program for vulnerable families on the Gold Coast, with children aged up to five years who are at risk of entering the child protection system.
  • Promoted Talking Families community education campaign, which encourages parents of children aged 0-4 to ‘get it off their chest’ and remind them that it’s normal to struggle, but they’re never alone.

January – March

  • The first phase of the child protection legislation reforms came into effect, allowing Child Safety to provide information to people who are, or have been in out-of-home-care, parents and guardians, the police and interstate child welfare authorities.
  • People who are, or have been, in out-of-home care are able to access more detailed information through the Time in Care Information Access Service.
  • Commenced partnership with the Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Health Service on the First 1000 Days Australia initiative, to help local parents better access services and support they need during the crucial first two years of their child’s life.
  • Launched the Navigate Your Health pilot, a co-designed model between Child Safety, Health and the Brisbane Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Service. The aim of the pilot is to improve the health and wellbeing of children entering and already in care, through the facilitation of health assessment and screening and health care coordination.
  • Opened the second round of the Empowering Families Innovation Grants, for ideas for initiatives, programs or ways of working that will keep Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children safe, well and connected to family, kin, culture and country.

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2017

October – December

  • The Child Protection Reform Amendment Bill 2017 was passed by Parliament to improve long-term outcomes for children and young people in the child protection system.
  • Commenced roll out of kicbox app, with availability to all kids in care and their Child Safety teams by mid-2018.
  • Released the first report on the Partners in Care engagement program and the initial Queensland Government response Working better with foster and kinship carers, following valuable feedback from Queensland’s foster and kinship carers.
  • Commenced roll-out of a four-year $2.6 million foster carer recruitment campaign, encouraging people from all walks of life to register their interest to become carers.
  • Committed a further $1.2 million for Logan Together for another two years, which aims to provide extra support for children aged 0-8 years.

July – September

  • Commenced mandatory reporting obligations for early childhood education and care professionals.
  • Launched trial of joint response teams between child safety and Queensland Police Service in Toowoomba, Townsville and the Gold Coast.
  • Established live-in recovery units to support families to overcome ice issues in a Queensland first.
  • Announced an additional $200 million funding over two years to hire a record 292 more child safety staff over two years.  
  • Rolled out new statewide campaign for Family and Child Connect to help families get the support they need when they need it.
  • Commenced the 'What's Next' program as part of priority access to provide financial and planning support to enable young people leaving care to access vocational education and training.
  • Established the Quality Improvement Program that focuses on building leadership capability and embedding a culture of continuous quality improvement that includes an assessment of service delivery against 9 standards to improve outcomes for children, young people, parents and families.

April – June

  • Released Our Way: A generational strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families (PDF) and Changing Tracks: An action plan for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families (PDF) to improve outcomes for vulnerable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and reduce their over-representation in out-of-home care.
  • Launched the Empowering Families Innovation Grants to ignite game-changing ideas for initiatives, programs or ways of working that will help keep Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children safe, well and connected to family, culture and country.
  • Announced $40.8 million funding over four years for more frontline staff and improved services, including placing 12 child safety officers in major hospitals, assigning a specialist nurse to each FaCC area, hiring 12 additional child safety staff for the new Moreton Bay CSSC, and rolling out the Child Safety Quality Assurance program.
  • Commenced development of a multi-agency action plan that ensures priority access to government services for children and young people in out-of-home-care.
  • Launched Partners in Care, a series of workshops across Queensland to identify ways to continue to improve support for and work collaboratively with foster and kinship carers, in partnership with Queensland Foster and Kinship Care.
  • Released the Laying Foundations Report which provides a broad industry profile of the child and family support sector to help with sector development, co-developed by QFCC in partnership with Community Services Industry Alliance.
  • Hosted the inaugural Ice Regional Community Engagement Summit to help tackle high level of substance abuse of methamphetamine in parents of children who come into care.
  • Implemented an advertising campaign in South East Queensland and Central Queensland to recruit more foster and kinship carers.
  • Established minimum qualification requirement for all residential care workers to be in force from July 1 2018.  

January – March

  • Rolled out second stage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing Services in six catchments.
  • Commenced working with residential care providers to develop strategies to implement the Hope and Healing Framework (PDF) Hope and Healing Framework (DOC, 678 KB), led by PeakCare.
  • Piloted the co-developed Out-of-home Care Outcomes Framework with regions and service providers to improve out-of-home care for children.
  • Opened final Family and Child Connect in Mount Isa/Gulf, integrated with specialist domestic violence services.
  • Introduced $3 million Early Childhood Education in Care package to ensure children in care have the same educational opportunities as their peers.
  • Commenced statewide community education campaign led by NAPCAN to help educate the community on how they can prevent child abuse and create child safe organisations.
  • Rolled out statewide program of training to prepare early childhood educators for their obligations as mandatory reporters.
  • Released tender for $1.6 million over three years to deliver an innovative model of kinship care with flexible support as part of reshaping the existing foster and kinship care system in Brisbane.
  • Released options paper for the review of the blue card system, led by QFCC.
  • Announced Queensland's first social impact investment initiative to tackle over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Islander children in out-of-home-care through the New Parent Infant Network (NEWPIN) program.
  • Released options paper for the review of the foster care system, led by QFCC.
  • Transferred support services for foster carers to the non-government sector in three Queensland regions.
  • Began operation of Assessment and Service Connect (ASC) to strengthen the child safety investigation and assessment process.
  • Announced $100,000 funding to continue the rollout of the Safe Sleeping Baby program to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

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2016

October – December

  • Announced $1.5 million over three years for the First 1000 Days program to provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with the best start to life.
  • Commenced design of new Recognised Entity service model in new stage of review process.
  • Published Finding out about Child Protection in Queensland (PDF), an information kit to help young people understand the child protection system developed by the Queensland Family and Child Commission.
  • Commenced statewide rollout of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing Services with first successful providers announced for South Burnett, Moreton Bay, Mackay and Roma.
  • Released options paper for second stage of statewide public consultations to review and redesign the Child Protection Act 1999.
  • Commenced the Out-of-Home Care Reform Initiative to ensure the placement service system is flexible and focused on meeting the individual needs of children and young people in care.
  • Released the Workplace Practice Self-Assessment Toolkit (PDF), developed by Queensland Family and Child Commission as a resource for organisations to examine their workplace practices and ensure they achieve the recommended cultural change.
  • Implemented mandatory drug testing for parents on Intervention with Parental Agreement orders.

July – September

April – June

January – March

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2015

October – December

July – September

  • Opened tenders for the rollout of specialist domestic and family violence services in communities located in far north and central Queensland.
  • Commenced statewide public consultation process for the review of the Child Protection Act 1999.
  • Opened tenders for professional services to support trials of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family-led decision making and shared practice in several Queensland locations.
  • Engaged PwC Indigenous Consulting to undertake a review of the Safe House model in discrete communities to help deliver better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.
  • Opened Family and Child Connect services in Browns Plains, Caboolture, Emerald, Gladstone, Ipswich, Kingaroy, Hervey Bay, Murgon and Rockhampton, as part of the second stage of the rollout.
  • Funded Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak to provide peak body services, with a focus on developing the capability of the non-government sector and child protection practitioners.

April – June

  • Announced service providers for the second stage of Family and Child Connect services in a further six catchments.
  • Announced successful tenderers for new domestic and family violence support services in a range of locations across Queensland.

January – March

  • Opened tender to identify new ways of working with, and meeting the needs of, Indigenous children and families as part of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Service Reform Project.
  • Opened applications for the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services' Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cadetship Program.
  • Announced successful tenderers for the new after-care support services for young people and services commenced operation.
  • Launched new Strengthening Families Protecting Children Framework for Practice and commenced training of child safety professionals.
  • Opened new Office of the Public Guardian Cairns hub to provide support and advocacy to Indigenous children and young people in the child protection system in Far North Queensland.
  • Opened the first seven Family and Child Connect services in Townsville, Maroochydore, Toowoomba, Roma, Beenleigh, Logan and the Gold Coast.
  • Amendments to the Child Protection Act 1999 commenced operation, providing the legal framework for sharing information about child protection concerns.
  • Introduced new mandatory qualification requirements for all child safety roles.

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2014

October – December

  • Launched Talking Families campaign, encouraging parents and families to talk about the pressures of parenting and seek help when they need it.
  • Announced successful tenderers for the first seven Family and Child Connect services.
  • Launched Supporting Families Changing Futures website, creating a central point for information relating to the Queensland Government's child and family reforms.

July – September

April – June

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2013

October – December

April – June

 

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