Queensland Family and Child Commission May 2015. Reason for the Inquiry: Public concern over escalating numbers of children coming into contact with the

Queensland Family and Child Commission

May 2015

Reason for the Inquiry:

• Public concern over escalating numbers of children coming into contact with the child protection system

• Budget for child protection increased from $182.3 million in 2003-04 to $773 million in 2012-13 and projected to increase to $1.18 billion by 2020.

QFCC Overview – May 2015

The Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry


• 121 recommendations 10-year reform plan phased introduction

• Providing alternative supports and processes for ‘below threshold’ families

• Emphasis on evidence-based reform, evaluation and review to enable continuous improvement

• Shared leadership and collaboration across government and non-government sector

• Establishment of Queensland Family and Child Commission

Government response: supported implementation of the recommendations and allocated $406 million over 5 years


Final report of the Inquiry


Blue Card ServicesPublic Safety Business Agency

Child Death Case Review CommitteeDCCSDS

Carmody Inquiry – 121 recommendations for reform (Jul 2013)

Closure of CCYPCG

System oversight and advocacyQueensland Family and Child Commission

ComplaintsQueensland Ombudsman

Child Advocacy Function Office of the Public Guardian

$406 million government investment


• Queensland Family and Child Commission is a statutory body.• Appointment of Principal Commissioner and Commissioner – one

must be an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person.• Queensland Family and Child Commission is responsible for the

oversight of the child protection system, but not individual investigation and advocacy.

Queensland Family and Child Commission Act 2014



Cross–sectoral Partnerships

Evidence-based child protection & family support system

Queensland Family and Child Commission (est. July 2014)

Public education

Build internal capability

Objectives

42 FTEs with a budget of $10.534M (FY2014/15)

The QFCC has a specific and consistent focus on representing the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities.

The Commission provides expert oversight of Queensland's child protection system to ensure the sector is delivering best practice services for the families and children of Queensland.

Our key objectives: • promote the safety, wellbeing and best interests of children and young

people• promote and advocate the responsibility of families and communities to

protect and care for children and young people • improve the child protection system by providing advice and support to

government and non-government agencies delivering services for children and families

• provide reassurance to the government and the community that its major investment in improving the child protection system is being used wisely.


The Queensland Family and Child Commission

• To promote the safety and wellbeing of Queensland’s children and young people and the role of families and communities in protecting and caring for them

• To partner with government and non-government organisations to facilitate sustainable improvements to Child Protection and Family Support Services

Our Purpose

Implementing Reforms – April 2015

• We know that the responsibility of child protection does not rest with one agency or sector alone.

• We promote and advocate a shared responsibility of families and communities to protect and care for children and young people.

• We educate parents, families, communities and professionals about how they can keep children and young people safe and the services available to strengthen and support Queensland families.

Activities include:• Talking Families social marketing campaign (Rec 1.1)• Community Services Directory (Rec 6.1)• Resources about rights, CPS, complaints (Rec 13.26)

Our Role – Educate


• We work alongside our non-government and government partners and with universities, the vocational education and training sectors to strengthen the capacity and capability across the child protection workforce to deliver sustainable improvements in services for children and families.

Activities include:• Cultural Change Plan (Rec 12.15)• Workforce Planning and Development Strategy (Rec 10.7)• Capacity Building and Governance Strategy (Rec 6.6)

Our Role – Enable


• We support Queensland to have a high quality child protection system by monitoring, reviewing and reporting on the system performance in achieving state and national goals.

• We provide leadership, advice and support to agencies to ensure reform initiatives are effectively evaluated and are on track to deliver key outcomes.

• We guide the sector on system improvement and support evidence-based policy development.

Activities include:• Evaluation Framework (Rec 12.14)• Three year rolling research program (Rec 12.13)

Our Role – Inform system improvements



Objective: Evidence-based child protection and family support systemSupport a high quality, evidence-based Queensland child protection and family support system.

• Monitor, review and report on the performance of the child protection and family support systems in line with national standards.

• Influence and guide the sector on practice improvement through investment in best-practice research and access to child death data.

• Support the sector to develop consistent evaluation frameworks to measure the effectiveness of reforms.

Initiative – Evaluation Framework (Priority)A framework is being developed that will provide an overall architecture for the evaluation of services and outcomes for vulnerable families and children.

Initiative – 3-year rolling research programAreas of research focus will be prioritised in line with priorities for reform. Proposed research may be conducted by the QFCC, academics or practitioners.


Objective: Public educationEducate Queensland families and communities on their role in keeping children and young people safe and the resources available to assist them.

• Promote public education to encourage help-seeking behaviours among at-risk families and a shared responsibility for protecting children and young people

• Enhance understanding of the child protection and family support systems in Queensland.

• Improve access to and awareness of services that meet the needs of vulnerable Queensland children and families.

Initiative – Social marketing campaign (“Talking Families”)• Phase One of a public education strategy, using a social marketing approach, was

launched on 2 November, 2014 to both raise community awareness, and encourage positive attitudinal shifts and behaviour change around the role of families and communities vs the state in providing the best care and protection for children.

• Evaluation of the first six-week wave of advertising in the “Talking Families” campaign has revealed high public awareness of the initiative and some indication of positive behavioural responses. This will be built upon in further phases of the campaign over the coming four years.

Campaign ResultsChannel During 6 week campaign Life of project (as at 30 April 15)

Talking Families microsite visits 12,415 16,854

Facebook followers 6,128 11,278

Facebook average daily reach 60,346 28,047

Facebook average daily engagement

1,343 684


• The Community Services Directory enables families, children and practitioners to easily access services via an online state-wide information portal.

• It will be integral to the roll-out of dual reporting and cultural change among current mandatory reporters and will also promote help-seeking behaviours among at-risk families.

• The Directory’s data will help inform the FaCC catchments about the supply of services to meet demands

• Stakeholders are being engaged in all stages of the project, with the directory to be launched in the third quarter of 2015.*

Initiative – Community Services Directory (Priority)


• Build the capability of the child protection and family support system workforce in collaboration with government, non-government and academic sectors.

• Partner with non-government organisations to strengthen non-government organisations capacity and governance.

• Lead the development of sector-wide cultural change management.

Initiative – QFCC Advisory Council• QFCC will establish an Advisory Council, as recommended by the Carmody

Inquiry, to provide guidance to the Principal Commissioner on the role and services of the Commission.

Objective: Cross-sectoral PartnershipsStrengthen partnerships and collaboration between government and non-government organisations to achieve better outcomes for children and families.


Initiative – Workforce Planning and Development Strategy• The QFCC has commenced the initial phase of consulting with stakeholders on

leading the development of the cross sector Workforce Planning and Development Strategy.

• It is anticipated that the Workforce Strategy will include a range of workforce qualification standards, training and professional development initiatives applied across all levels of the sector.

Initiative – Capacity Building and Governance Strategy• The QFCC is leading the development of a Capacity Building and Governance

Strategy for non-government agencies, especially those with limited resources.

Initiative – Cultural Change Plan• The QFCC is leading the Workforce/Cultural Change Committee which has

undertaken an initial phase of identifying the nature, strengths, weakness and gaps in the existing workforce culture, and stakeholder needs, roles and responsibilities to inform the development of a Cultural Change Plan for the roll out of the reforms.



Objective: Build internal capability

• Strengthen the internal organisational capability within the QFCC.• Optimise internal processes and tools.

Our pressing priorities

• Resolution to the residual funding from the previous CCYPCG.• Priority projects such as the Community Services Directory depends on

the allocation of these funds.*• Research for Phase Two of the public education campaign which

focusses on professionals with a child protection mandate.

Documents

Queensland Family and Child Commission May 2015. Reason for the Inquiry: Public concern over escalating numbers of children coming into contact with the