Protecting children: An inquiry into abuse of children in foster care

Protecting children: An inquiry into abuse of children in foster care is a report of an inquiry into Queensland's foster care system.

The report contains recommendations for reform - including the call for a new Department of Child Safety - dedicated exclusively to protecting the rights of children, particularly those in foster care.

• Chapter 1 outlines the history of child protection in Queensland and the current scheme.
• Chapters 2 and 3 detail the evidence obtained during the Zellow and Ghost investigations; they also include key aspects of the evidence presented to the public hearings and significant evidence arising from other sources such as the two recent investigations into child deaths conducted by the Queensland Ombudsman and the results of the independent audit carried out by Ms Gwenn Murray.
• The second half of this report outlines a new vision for a whole-of-government response to the needs of children generally, and those in the care of the state specifically.
• Chapter 4 proposes a new Department of Child Safety, which would concentrate exclusively on providing more integrated and child-focused protective services. The subsequent chapters expand upon how the new system should function.

This report was tabled in Parliament on 6 January 2004. 

Related reports: 

• Protecting children: An inquiry into abuse of children in foster care - Report summary 

This document comprises the summary to the CMC’s Protecting children report and a full list of the recommendations contained in that report.

• Reforming child protection in Queensland: A review of the implementation of recommendations contained in the CMC's Protecting children report (24 June 2007) 

This document comprises a review of the implementation of recommendations made in the CMC’s Protecting children report.