'Unacceptable': Queensland government launches emergency audit to find hundreds of children missing from state care
More than 12,000 children are currently in Queensland's residential care system through foster, residential and kinship care programs, but out of this figure 780 children have made the decision to leave state-care and "self-place" in a location unknown to the government.
The Crisafulli Liberal National Party government is now working to gather the displaced children's names, ages and locations as fears grow they may be homeless or living in dangerous situations.
It is understood when children choose to self-place, they lose access to government-backed support services and case management, making it hard to track their location.
Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm said the self-placement of children was "unacceptable", adding it is essential for those missing from the system to be identified.
'Allowing one vulnerable child to self-place in Queensland is unacceptable to me, let alone 780 young people. That's why I have ordered a full audit of the kids in care who are self-placing, what support they are receiving and where they are,' she said.
'It is vital we have an understanding of how we can better support these vulnerable children to get their lives back on track and if they have a youth justice crossover.'
Ms Camm said a "clear system failure" was behind the state's growing number of unlicensed operators in residential care who are not bound by strict child protection laws, nor monitored or audited by state authorities.
Only 36 of the state's 146 residential care providers are licensed, with 110 unlicensed providers largely operating in the for-profit sector and receiving $474.3 million in state government funding.
'The fact the government had nearly no oversight of unlicensed providers, or recourse to ensure they are delivering positive outcomes for vulnerable children is a clear system failure,' Ms Camm said.
'The residential care sector is a billion-dollar industry built on the back of vulnerable children with taxpayers' money.
'It is critical there is oversight and these organisations know that if they do not perform, the government will act.
'It is critical we take the necessary steps to fix issues when they are uncovered to ensure children are being adequately taken care of.
'This Commission of Inquiry is about accountability, both ministerial and departmental. We need to understand how these system failures happened, so we can ensure they do not happen again.'
The figures come as Queensland's 17-month Commission of Inquiry led by former Federal Court judge Paul Anastassiou KC into the state's "broken" Child Safety System holds its first public hearing on Wednesday.
The government previously claimed the residential care system is failing children at a cost of $1.2 billion.
"There is no coincidence that we have a broken child safety system and a youth crime crisis in this state, and we are determined to take action on both," Queensland Premier David Crisafulli previously said.
A separate inquiry is also examining the rules governing unlicensed providers to care for vulnerable children.
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