Commission releases the Indigenous Child Placement Principle Audit Report 2010/11

The Queensland Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian has released the Indigenous Child Placement Principle Audit Report 2010/11.

The Indigenous Child Placement Principle Audit Report 2010/11 represents the second audit conducted by the Commission in fulfilling its legislative responsibility to monitor the Department of Communities’ compliance with section 83 of the Child Protection Act 1999. This section prescribes a process that must be followed when making out-of-home care placement decisions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.

Section 83 is founded on the principle that it is in the best interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people to be raised within, or in connection with, their own family, community and culture where they are no longer able to remain safely in the care of their parents.

Compliance with section 83 is therefore important to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people are placed in the most culturally appropriate placements related to their specific needs and family structure, and experience maintained connection to their family, community and culture.

The report is comprised of three components which together provide a comprehensive view of the administration of section 83 and what it can achieve for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in out-of-home care. This has involved auditing:

• the Department of Communities’ mechanisms supporting compliance with section 83 (policies, procedures and record keeping systems)  
• the Department of Communities’ practice compliance with section 83, and
• the outcomes achieved for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in out-of-home care, based on their reported connection to family, community and culture.

To ensure transparency and provide advice on specific issues during this audit, the Commission established an Advisory Committee comprised of representatives from the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak, the Remote Area Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Care, Foster Care Queensland, the Indigenous Studies Unit at the University of Queensland and the Department of Communities.

Key findings of the report are:

• The Department of Communities has implemented 19 of the 28 recommendations made in the inaugural audit which were aimed at enhancing policies, practice and record keeping relevant to the application of section 83. The remaining nine recommendations are scheduled for completion in March/April 2012.
• Compliance with each step required by section 83 is quite good. However, when viewed together, complete compliance with all required steps was only achieved in 15% of the sample.
• Overall, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in out-of-home care were found to be experiencing positive outcomes relevant to their contact with family and community and their opportunity to participate in cultural activities and events.  
• Those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people placed with Indigenous carers tended to experience the same, or better, outcomes across every measure of family and community contact and experience greater opportunities to participate in cultural activities and events.

For further information, please view the full report here.

For a summary of the report highlights, please click here (PDF, 500KB).

Last Updated: January 18, 2012

Print this page