Section 40 of the Family and Child Commission Act 2014 (the Act) requires the Queensland Family and Child Commission to include the following information in its annual report:
- Queensland’s performance in relation to achieving state and national goals relating to the child protection system.
- Queensland’s performance over time in comparison to other jurisdictions.
- Queensland’s progress in reducing the number of, and improving the outcomes for, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in the child protection system.
Under Schedule 2 of the Act (Definitions), the child protection system:
- means the system of services provided by relevant agencies to children and young people in need of protection or at risk of harm
- includes preventative and support services to strengthen and support families and prevent harm to children and young people.
In line with this definition, this report includes performance information relating to prevention, early intervention and protective intervention efforts as they relate to national and state goals.
For this report, we identified performance measures by scanning agencies’ reports and datasets and by consulting with agencies to determine the suitability, availability and limitations of the data. The most current data available to the Commission has been used.
While there is no shortage of data collected about the Queensland child protection system, it does not tell us how the system has affected children and young people—for example, if they were kept safe, if their basic needs were met, if their health, wellbeing and education were affected or if they were reunited with their families. It also does not tell us what children, young people and their families think about their experience in the system and the effect they think it had on them.