HOTEL STAYS NO HOLIDAY FOR KIDS IN THE SYSTEM

IF EVER there was an indication of systemic problems with the state’s residential care apparatus for young people, it can be found within reporter Peter Carruthers’ recent coverage of the issue, continued on Pages6-7 of today’s Weekend Post.

Drug use, chroming, property crime, destruction of suburban out-ofcare homes, disillusioned former workers are just the start.

Now we can throw into the mix the vandalism of Cairns hotel rooms – with allegations Child Safety has such a bad reputation among hotels that some department workers are being asked to book rooms using their own credit cards. Kids are even being put up in four or five-star hotels, and it’s the taxpayer who is picking up the bill.

According to the department, there are 11 different providers who offer residential care services in Cairns, funded to the tune of $56.7m during the 2021/22 financial year.

Let’s be clear – residential care is the last resort for kids in the care of the state.

They are either too damaged, have too complex needs, or are too old to be placed with foster or kinship carers. But the residential care system, according to insiders, has got a lot of room to improve.

Children and Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard has said that when a young person comes into the care of the state, “it is always a tragedy”, and it’s “a significant decision” to remove someone from their family.

But compare that to previous reports in the Cairns Post where a Mt Sheridan woman living near a residential care home described kids in care chroming in front of a carer, stealing a car, and in one case, a pair who were caught fornicating on the outdoor couch.

What is also a tragedy is that promised reform of the system seems as distant as ever.