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Matters of concern data

• Graphs
• Tables
• What is a matter of concern?
• Why this topic is important
• Trends

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Graphs

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Tables

• Matters of concern, by Indigenous status, Queensland, 2007-08 (Excel 23 KB)
• Matters of concern, by sex, Queensland, 2007-08 (Excel 21 KB)
• Matters of concern, by age group, Queensland, 2007-08 (Excel 21 KB)
• Substantiated Matters of concern, by harm type, Queensland, 2007-08 (Excel 22 KB)

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What is a matter of concern?

A matter of concern is any concern raised in relation to the care of a child in an out-of-home care placement, where a breach of the standards of care is indicated.

An alleged breach to a standard of care is recorded as either a:

• Child Placement Concern Report - when there has been inadequate or poor quality care of a child in out-of-home care that fails to meet the standards of care, but does not meet the threshold for a notification.
• Notification - where the information received meets the legislative threshold of harm.

All matters of concern responded to by way of notification are investigated and assessed. The investigation must commence within 24 hours.

With the introduction of the ICMS in March 2007, the department is now able to report on all matters of concern and their outcomes, including:

• child placement concern reports
• MOC notifications
• MOC substantiations.

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Why this topic is important

The protection of children from harm is a key priority for our department. The release in January 2004 of the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) report Protecting children: an inquiry into abuse of children in foster care was a significant milestone in Queensland's child protection system. The CMC inquiry identified systemic failures in the system, including actions not being undertaken to prevent children placed in foster care from further abuse or neglect. Since that time, sweeping reforms of the child protection system have been undertaken, including implementation of all 110 CMC recommendations.

Regular monitoring and reporting on the safety and wellbeing of children placed away from home is critical to ensure that children remain safe in out-of-home care and that any issues are quickly resolved.

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Trends

In 2007-08, emotional harm was the most frequent substantiated harm type. 88 children (49.2 per cent) were the subject of a matter of concern substantiation for emotional harm, 33 children (18.4 per cent) for sexual abuse, 32 children (17.9 per cent) for neglect and 26 children (14.5 per cent) for physical harm.

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Last updated

20 February 2009