Reviewing Implementation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle Queensland 2025

Executive Summary

Reviewing Implementation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle Queensland 2025 reviews the progress of the Queensland Government, primarily through the Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety (DFSDSCS), towards implementing the full intent of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (the Child Placement Principle). Recent changes in law, policy and practice are examined, with a focus on the five interrelated elements of the Child Placement Principle: Prevention, Partnership, Placement, Participation and Connection.

In Qld, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were significantly over-represented in all aspects of child protection systems during 2023-24, including in out-of-home care (OOHC). Despite accounting for only 9.4% of 0-17-year-olds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander[2] children make up 47.2% of children in OOHC and other supported placements as of June 2024. This means Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were 8.6 times more likely than their non-Indigenous peers to be in OOHC. During 2023-24, in Qld, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children made up 46% of children in OOHC, and 37% of substantiated claims of abuse or neglect (SNAICC, 2024). Despite this, only 4.2% of child protection funding was invested in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations (ACCOs) (SNAICC, 2024).

The Qld Government’s commitment to Target 12 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, which aims to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in OOHC in Australia by 45% by 2031, is driven by Our Way: A generational strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families 2017-2037 (Our Way), which provides a broad framework for reform at a whole-of-system level. However, immediate and targeted action is required to fully implement the reform, including substantial funding for ACCOs, culturally informed practices and legislative reforms.

In recent years, Qld has taken a leading role in Australia’s child protection landscape in its reforms to deliver better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, being the first jurisdiction in Australia to include all five elements of the Child Placement Principle in child protection legislation in 2017. In 2022, it further solidified this commitment by introducing a legislative requirement for child protection authorities to make ‘active efforts’ to apply the Child Placement Principle when making significant decisions about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Active efforts are defined as ‘purposeful, thorough and timely efforts’ to apply all elements of the Child Placement Principle (Child Protection Act 1999 Section 5F(6)).

The active efforts legislative requirement came into effect in May 2023. To assist with compliance, the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak (QATSICPP) released Active Efforts in Practice, a guide for practitioners working in the community-controlled sector with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families in Queensland (QATSICPP 2023a).

Our Way is a significant strategy aimed at eliminating the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the child protection system in Qld. Developed in partnership with Family Matters Queensland in 2017, Our Way is delivered through a series of action plans under Changing Tracks (2017-2022), Breaking Cycles (2023–2031) and Hitting Targets (2032–2037). It supports the Qld Government commitments to the National Agreement on Closing the Gap (the National Agreement) and Safe and Supported: the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2021–2031 (Safe and Supported).

Launched in September 2023, Breaking Cycles: An action plan for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families 2023–2025 (Breaking Cycles) is the third action plan under the Our Way Strategy. It is intended to act as a roadmap for transformational change across the child protection and family support systems in Queensland to better meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families and reduce over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in OOHC (Queensland Government, 27 September 2023).

The action plan addresses all elements of the Child Placement Principle through various action items and deliverables under each of the priority areas, all of which are targeted at improving supports for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. The plan includes several critical reforms, including:

• the expansion of Delegated Authority across Queensland
• the transition of significant investment in child and family services to the ACCO sector by 2032
• transforming approaches to investment and commissioning that better support self-determination
• an increased investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family-Led Decision Making (AFLDM) across child protection systems
• new family and relative care model to ensure kinship placements are prioritised
• increasing investment in early intervention services (DCSSDS 2023).

While Queensland’s legislative framework for child protection, and its supporting strategies and guidelines, may seem sufficient for the effective implementation of the Child Placement Principle, the primary obstacle to the success of the system is a mismatch between the law’s intent and its practical application, particularly when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families interact with the statutory system. This disconnect between policy goals and real-world outcomes is a key challenge in achieving meaningful change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Queensland (QFCC Commissioner Natalie Lewis in SNAICC 2024, p.85)

This incongruence is compounded by other significant challenges, such as the closure of the Path to Treaty process, the stalled establishment of a dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s commissioner, and static and insufficient investment in ACCOs. The lack of progress on these fronts has led to stagnation in meaningful change in concrete outcomes, improving the safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

Please note: We have updated the way our reviews are structured. Previously, reviews were categorised by specific review periods. They are now titled by year and include all relevant developments up to that point in time. This change provides a clearer, more comprehensive snapshot of progress and updates within each release year.