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Improving permanency for children in care

All children need and deserve to feel safe, secure and be part of a family who cares for them. We protect and care for children who enter the child protection system and provide support so that children can be re-unified with their families where possible.

However, some children and young people are unable to safely return to their families for a number of reasons. For these children, remaining in out-of-home care is not ideal.

We are focussed on investigating strategies that provide permanent care and a real family environment to enable children to leave the child protection system.

In August 2006, we released a discussion paper: Improving permanency for children in care (PDF 386 KB) for consultation. This discussion paper aimed to provide people the opportunity to identify the relevant issues in relation to a proposed new type of permanent parenting order.

The discussion paper was a practical response to the unprecedented number of children remaining in care and reflects our focus on protecting the best interests of children in the long term.

The proposed Permanent Parenting Order would provide children with the stability of a lifelong relationship with a permanent caregiver and family while allowing them to maintain their identity and an ongoing relationship with their birth family. The Permanent Parenting Order is different to a Child Protection Order in that it would give children a regular family life and allow them to leave the child protection system permanently.

The need to provide stable long-term care for children who cannot go home has increasingly been identified as a priority - 'drifting in care' can have significant adverse short-term and long-term effects on all areas of a child's development and wellbeing.

As a result, we are focussed on providing stability and a regular family life for children who cannot safely return to their birth families. We want to ensure that children and young people have access to a range of long-term care options to provide them with the best possible chance to reach their full potential.

Feedback for this discussion paper consultation closed 16 October 2006. The feedback received is being collated into a report for consideration by government. Responses submitted through ConsultQld are available online.

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Last updated

30 May 2007