Support network has forgotten families: welfare worker
DISCOVERY of a ninemonth-old baby girl dead on a Surfers Paradise beach has exposed a lack of crisis accommodation for families on the Gold Coast.
Welfare workers and MPs, asked yesterday about solutions to prevent another loss of life involving a child without accommodation, called for more frontline resources.
Bulletin reports have detailed how the baby’s family had been living rough at Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach and Tweed Heads for several months and depending on support from charities.
Experienced welfare worker Wendy Coe warned yesterday if another baby was in a similar situation, authorities would still be unable to find immediate housing for them.
She said the bigger issue needing to be fixed was a huge number of children who belonged to families with mental health and drug issues.
“There is no known crisis accommodation where I could take a family,” Ms Coe said.
A men’s facility provided about 12 crisis beds. Women escaping violent relationships could choose from a handful of shelters.
“There is absolutely nowhere for mum, dad and children to go somewhere. Sometimes we have to ask them to separate,” Ms Coe said.
“Dad will stay in a tent or the bush. The family is split up. That’s one practical solution (to all of this), to have a place where you can take a family.”
Other experienced welfare workers have backed the call for crisis accommodation for families.
“I do think there’s a need for crisis accommodation for an intact family. If we can wrap support services around intact families, we might be able to prevent a crisis or give them strategies to get through that crisis,” the welfare worker said.
“Often it is the accommodation that’s provided after the crisis – or in this case it’s too late. Is it enough that we take food to people in a park?
“Can we do better than that? As a community I think we really can. This has been really sad.”
MPs are weighing up potential law changes that would require authorities to act quicker when alerted about a child living rough with a homeless family.
Child Safety Services has refused to say if it had put in place a safety parenting agreement with he family to protect the baby.
Mudgeeraba MP and LNP frontbencher Ros Bates said that with current available crisis accommodation on the Gold Coast, there was “no plan for families”.
“If you are a male victim of DV and you have kids with you, there is nowhere to go either,” Ms Bates said.
She called for an overhaul in the culture of Child Safety Services because children were being sent back to unsafe environments.
“This whole reunification at all costs is killing kids in Queensland,” Ms Bates said.