Each state budget is an opportunity to reset government and community investment in our children and young people. For children and young people removed from their families, the government plays the vital role of ‘parent’ across all areas of a child’s life – safety, health, education, mental health and housing. Does the Crisafulli Government’s budget demonstrate this level of commitment for children and young people in its care?
Housing - Living under the government's rood beyond childhood
CREATE Foundation is pleased to see the Crisafulli Government’s pledge to address the housing shortage in Queensland, with an indexed 20 per cent increase in specialist homelessness services including investment in youth foyers, domestic violence shelters, and social homes in remote and discrete First Nations communities. Queensland Treasurer, David Janetzki, has said the government is “front-loading” the budget to deliver timely services, with funding tapering off over the next four years. The plan to extend funding beyond the current term and deliver 53,500 social housing residences by 2044 is encouraging, however with a record 52,000 Queenslanders currently on the waitlist, CREATE is concerned that the government will not be able to keep up with the demand for housing as the number of unhoused people within the state continues to rise.
Much of the funding focuses on a boost to temporary and crisis accommodation, and CREATE would like to see investment in longer-term solutions to provide sustainable housing options and work towards ending chronic homelessness. Young care leavers in Queensland have told CREATE…
“Most social housing is just a short-term thing, and then you have to move again so the process starts back up. It fixes the problem for now but really it just delays the problem.
We can’t afford a private rental on benefits, it just can’t be done.”
CREATE advocates for guaranteed housing for care leavers, as part of the standard transition to adulthood supports delivered by government. Recent improvements to transition supports have helped ease financial stress for care leavers, however many young people remain ineligible and housing options are still few. Many young care leavers report that the limited housing options presented to them were often unsuitable, unsafe, and in some cases led to triggering of past trauma. They told us, “Nobody should have to choose to live in an unsafe situation because the other options are worse.”
We want to see housing options that meet the physical and mental health needs of each individual and include connection with support services to set young people up for success.
Youth justice – all kids deserve a safe and healthy childhood
A large focus of the budget has prioritised punitive responses to youth crime involving children as young as 10. CREATE is deeply troubled by the criminalising of the state’s most vulnerable children and young people, many of whom have been victims of crime themselves.
Children and young people in contact with the child safety system are at higher risk of entering the criminal justice system. Nationally, nearly two-thirds of children and young people under youth justice supervision have been involved with the child protection system. For First Nations young people, the percentage is even higher at 76 per cent. In 2022, 28 per cent of children and young people in youth justice custody within Queensland had an active child protection order.
These are kids who have likely faced childhood trauma, racism, poverty, unstable housing, family violence, mental health challenges or unmet disability needs. Instead of getting the support they need to heal and grow, they’re being relocated from a broken child protection system to a broken youth justice system. Young people have raised concerns about the crossover of children in care and the justice system, telling us…
“They all have these pre-established traumas and they’re constantly moving, have no emotional support so they start to express their emotional needs by lashing out with anger or assault.
I think the focus should be on healing the child’s trauma. That is why they are acting the way they are acting.”
CREATE supports investments towards alternatives to locking kids up. However, it’s not clear what the proposed investment in rehabilitation and diversion strategies will look like, including the establishment of Crime Prevention Schools currently out for tender. CREATE calls for a collaborative approach to ensure that any intervention is trauma-informed, evidence-based and compliant with government’s obligations to uphold children’s rights and wellbeing. We have major concerns about monitoring programs and Queensland’s practice of detaining children in adult watchhouses.
Given the over-representation of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the youth justice system, CREATE calls for further investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community-Controlled Organisations, to ensure First Nations-led approaches and a genuine commitment to self-determination and cultural safety.
Domestic and family violence
A national crisis, exposure to domestic and family violence is one of the largest contributing factors to child maltreatment in Australia. Interventions in this area have been significantly underfunded for decades, and CREATE Young Consultants have called for more supports to enable parents to protect their children from abuse, telling us…
“So many children are removed for DV, it’s like the person being abused is almost being punished.
Instead, they need to focus on removing the abuser or providing a safer environment for the whole family. It would be less traumatising and would lead to better outcomes.”
The Queensland budget provides more than $200 million to be invested in addressing domestic and family violence, including funding for crisis accommodation, electronic monitoring of high-risk offenders, and funding for crisis response. This is a welcome start, and CREATE looks forward to seeing a new domestic and family violence reform strategy that protects victims and holds perpetrators to account. However, given the pervasive nature of this issue, current levels of investment will not be enough to make meaningful change for children and families.
Mental health
Children placed in the care of the state have often experienced high levels of instability and trauma. Unfortunately, the current system often fails to provide children with the supports they need to heal, and it can contribute further to their trauma. Young people frequently report difficulty accessing essential health services that address their needs, particularly if they do not meet the criteria of being “high risk” individuals. One young person told us, “They won’t start helping you unless you’re standing out for the wrong reasons. Once police or ambulances get involved then they’ll take you seriously.”
CREATE celebrates the government’s significant investment in the public health system, including the boost to the frontline workforce and investment in two new Step Up, Step Down youth mental health facilities. We would like to see the provision of free, targeted mental health supports to all children and young people who have spent time in the care of the Department of Child Safety. These services should be accessible for as long as they are needed, including once a young person has left care. Another young person shared that, “[Mental health] services move you on too quickly – they don’t want to stay with you for years and years. But kids in care need years and years of therapy.”
CREATE also advocates for culturally appropriate approaches to support young First Nations people who have lost connection with family, country and culture.
“Mental health care in out-of-home care (and also in general) is way too Eurocentric.
They need to integrate Aboriginal ways of helping with mental health and wellbeing with Western treatments and medicine.”
Amplifying the voices of children and young people with lived experience in out-of-home care
In light of the Commission of Inquiry into Queensland’s child safety system and the government’s focus on reforming a broken system, it is more important than ever to listen to the lived experience of children and young people as experts in their own lives. Our young people have told us… “The government needs to listen to young people when we tell them how hard it is. I keep being told I’m so passionate but it’s because I’m not being heard, I have to say the same thing over and over.”
CREATE calls on the government to address Queensland’s overreliance on residential care with increased investment in early intervention programs, meaningful support for carers, and new and innovative models of foster care. The Queensland Government should commit to a clear plan to transition away from its dependence on residential care over coming years, that involves increased investment in early intervention programs and home-based models of care that better meet the relational and developmental needs of young people, especially small children.
Keeping families together is one of the best tools at our disposal for reducing the number of children and young people entering care and reforming the broken system. What’s needed is collaboration between different areas of government, First Nations-led approaches to growing kids strong, and government genuinely addressing the drivers of risk, such as the cost of living, housing stress, family and domestic violence, and the mental health needs of families.
CREATE youth advocates are already working on identifying gaps in the proposed reforms, in order to offer advice to decision-makers. CREATE supports the Queensland Government’s efforts to listen to the voices and experiences of young people, and hope to continue working together to find solutions. When asked how they feel when their choices aren’t considered, one young person said…
“[I feel] annoyed. A lot more than annoyed. Powerless, out of control, unsafe.
The decision-making process should involve me.”
The Queensland Government plays the role of parent and carer of every single child and young person who is removed from their families through the child protection system. Children and young people have told CREATE that within this system, “We want adults to recognise our potential and dream big for us, so we can”.
While this budget has some good news, it doesn’t provide the comprehensive frame to ensure that children being raised in the care of government have the best and brightest futures. CREATE will continue to partner with the sector and government in Queensland to ensure that the voices of children and young people in care continue to influence policy, program and investment decisions across all portfolios that shape their lives.
