Mismatched kids under the one roof

‘Isolated’ and swimming against tide

A veteran social worker who supported some of Queensland’s most traumatised and violent children in our residential care system has called for a fresh approach to address the rising number of young people living out-of-home.

Dean Walsh said that during his time as residential care worker he saw first-hand how the system was failing young people, their families and staff.

While working for one company he said it was common for highly traumatised and sexualised young people to be placed in the same house as violent teenagers, with very limited preparation or notice.

“I remember working with a young autistic boy who ended up being punched and kicked in the face by a 15-yearold girl after he was placed in the house with minimal paperwork,” Mr Walsh said.

“All we had was a phone call from the Department of Child Safety before he arrived.

“Our job was to develop trust to help young people get through their trauma, so they could reintegrate with their family but we just could not do that. It was just a revolving door of mismatched kids.”

Residential care was intended to be a temporary solution for children who have been taken from their parents while the department sought a longer-term foster or kinship home.

The residential care homes are often group homes with up to five young people, supported by social workers 24hours a day.

But over the past decade the number of children in residential areas across Queensland has more than doubled.

In the Darling Downs and Southwest, that increase is greater with 398 children in care in 2022, up from 136 in 2015.

During his time Mr Walsh was repeatedly attacked by young people who would turn violent when he attempted to control their behaviour.

“In my first six months I was sure someone would be killed,” he said.

“I was hurt, I was attacked, I saw other workers injured and other children injured.

“There is an isolating feeling when you are working in a violent, temperamental house, there is no one there. I have never felt so alone.

“There are times when I was locked in a house alone with a kid armed with a fire hydrant who was threatening to bash my head in if I called for help.”

Mr Walsh left that provider for another, which he said was a noticeable improvement, but still had its issues.

“It was very well organised and led by a wonderful group of people who were very experienced,” Mr Walsh said.

“They put so much time into training us, teaching us about early-life trauma – it felt like I was doing a university degree.

“The company did not expand rapidly like others were and it kept its number low, taking only children with the highest needs. We provide trauma-informed care and are very nurturing and empathetic, but because the children were such high-needs, we received a lot of information about them before they arrived at the house.”

They were often very young children who had been sexually abused at home, had been exposed to drugs and had suffered acute personal trauma.

At the same time the service was getting calls from the department that was desperate to find somewhere to put the violent children who were not suitable for foster care.

“I also met so many darling, well-behaved kids, who had fallen into the system after their mother had overdosed and died, leaving no one to care for them.

“Then they get put into a home with a 16-year-old ice user who is kicking holes in the walls,” Mr Walsh said.

“That was the part of residential care that I really did not appreciate.”

For the system to work better, Mr Walsh said hardened, violent and older children need to be taken out of their community and placed in homes in the country so they are away from the negative influences in their lives.

“We are swimming hard against the tide with a lot of these kids,” Mr Walsh added.

“It was just a revolving door of mismatched kids Dean Walsh Social worker