Alleged carer attack sparks child protection crisis claim

A PROMINENT Gold Coast businessman accused of molesting a boy had his carer accreditation approved by Child Safety three months after the abuse was said to have started.

The foster father was charged in May with indecent treatment after he allegedly assaulted a boy aged under 12 “at a motel in Brisbane” and at his home.

It is understood the offending began in August last year and the man’s carer accreditation was renewed three months later.

A source close to the case said the victim told authorities he woke up to the man “massaging” his body.

The offending was flagged with Child Safety in March and the man was charged with carnal knowledge in late May.

The accused man appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court this month and was bailed to

QUEENSLANDERS DESERVE TO KNOW HOW THIS PERSON WAS ABLE TO GET APPROVED AS A CARER IN THE FIRST PLACE

LNP MP ROS BATES

reappear on September 18. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has fostered dozens of children since becoming a carer in September 2015.

The revelation about the 41-year-old businessman’s alleged behaviour has outraged child safety campaigners and the LNP. And it places more pressure on Child Safety Minister Shannon Fentiman in the wake of the alleged sex abuse and murder of foster child Tiahleigh Palmer in 2015 and the alleged murder of Joshua Migala in April 2015.

It also follows the death of Mason Jet Lee in June last year, the alleged murder and torture of Maddilyn Rose Stokes in May, the death of a Yeppoon baby in March and the jailing in May of a Gladstone foster father who sexually abused two girls in his care.

All of these children had been through the Child Safety process, with many believing the system failed them.

In August, a damning coroner’s court review into child protection found major departmental shortcomings and other agencies in the deaths of 18 at-risk children.

LNP Child Safety spokeswoman Ros Bates said the latest case of alleged foster carer abuse showed the Labor Government had not learnt anything from Tiahleigh’s death.

“It casts a dark cloud over the whole carer-approval process,” Ms Bates said. “Labor has used secrecy and coverups to hide the ongoing crisis in our child safety system.

“Queenslanders deserve to know how this person was able to get approved as a carer in the first place.

“The lack of leadership and ongoing crisis in child safety is undermining the good work the many thousands of carers do every day to keep our vulnerable children safe.”

Bravehearts founder and child safety campaigner Hetty Johnston said the system was failing children.

“These are the most vulnerable kids in our society,” Ms Johnston said. “We take them from the place where they are being harmed and place them with strangers.”

Ms Fentiman said she ordered a review of the carer’s file as soon as she was told of the allegation and that the carer was visited regularly.

“No concerns were raised prior to March 2017,” she said. “This matter was immediately referred to the Queensland Police Service and the department immediately moved to suspend his status as a carer. At that time the carer did not have any children in his care and no further children have been placed with him.

“It is not appropriate to comment further as this matter is now before the courts.”

A Child Safety spokesman said “concerns” about the foster carer were raised with the department and they were relayed to police.

“The department works closely with Queensland Police on any criminal allegations with the safety of children always the top priority,” a department spokesman said.

The Queensland Family and Child Commission is investigating the State’s foster care approval processes.