Published Friday, 17 November, 2006 at 10:09 AM
Minister for Child Safety
The Honourable Desley Boyle
‘Safe kids’ initiative tackling child abuse in the Far North
Cairns Base Hospital is doing vital work to help heal children who have been abused, Child Safety Minister Desley Boyle says.
Ms Boyle, also the Member for Cairns, visited the hospital today to open the SAFE KIDS Unit’s Child and Family Health and Safety Network meeting.
“It is absolutely dreadful that we had 1245 substantiated notifications in the Far North in the past financial year,” Ms Boyle said.
“What that means is that 994 individual children have been or were at risk of being harmed. Some of them were neglected, some were harmed physically, some emotionally and some sexually.”
In the previous financial year there were 1682 substantiated notifications involving 1400 children.
“At least, what we can do is help them straight up so they can come to terms with what’s happened to them and start to heal,” Ms Boyle said.
The Department of Child Safety is working in partnership with other government agencies and community organisations to do this. One initiative is Cairns Base Hospital’s SAFE KIDS program.
Since its establishment in September 2005, the SAFE KIDS Unit has played a key role at the frontline of helping, supporting and treating young victims of abuse.
“The unit provides a single point of contact for all Queensland Health staff in the Cairns region with child protection concerns,” Ms Boyle said.
“It provides vital therapeutic support, such as counselling, to children who have been harmed or are at risk of harm,” she said.
Ms Boyle said the SAFE KIDS Unit was also one of the pioneers of the Queensland Government’s new Child Health Passport initiative, which will be formally rolled out in early 2007.
“The Child Health Passport is the first service of its kind in Australia and will ensure better medical support for children and young people who have been abused or neglected,” Ms Boyle said.
“The Health Passport ensures each child receives a health check when they are placed in out-of-home care, with that information travelling with the child, ensuring appropriate and timely health care.
“In Cairns, the SAFE KIDS Unit is already providing health assessments and health plans for the region’s vulnerable children and young people.”
The SAFE KIDS Child and Family Health and Safety Network meeting today is held to bring together key government departments and non-government organisations from the Cairns region who are involved in protecting children to network and share information.
“Child abuse is a community wide issue, and it is only by working together – government, non-government organisations and the community – that we can really tackle it,” Ms Boyle said.
To further enhance coordination between key child protection agencies in the Far North, the Department of Child Safety also recently established the Far North Queensland Children at Risk Action Network.
This network helps to build relationships across the Department of Child Safety, Queensland Health, Department of Communities, Queensland Police Service, Department of Education and the Arts and Disability Services Queensland.
Ends
Media contact: 3224 7477
Ms Boyle, also the Member for Cairns, visited the hospital today to open the SAFE KIDS Unit’s Child and Family Health and Safety Network meeting.
“It is absolutely dreadful that we had 1245 substantiated notifications in the Far North in the past financial year,” Ms Boyle said.
“What that means is that 994 individual children have been or were at risk of being harmed. Some of them were neglected, some were harmed physically, some emotionally and some sexually.”
In the previous financial year there were 1682 substantiated notifications involving 1400 children.
“At least, what we can do is help them straight up so they can come to terms with what’s happened to them and start to heal,” Ms Boyle said.
The Department of Child Safety is working in partnership with other government agencies and community organisations to do this. One initiative is Cairns Base Hospital’s SAFE KIDS program.
Since its establishment in September 2005, the SAFE KIDS Unit has played a key role at the frontline of helping, supporting and treating young victims of abuse.
“The unit provides a single point of contact for all Queensland Health staff in the Cairns region with child protection concerns,” Ms Boyle said.
“It provides vital therapeutic support, such as counselling, to children who have been harmed or are at risk of harm,” she said.
Ms Boyle said the SAFE KIDS Unit was also one of the pioneers of the Queensland Government’s new Child Health Passport initiative, which will be formally rolled out in early 2007.
“The Child Health Passport is the first service of its kind in Australia and will ensure better medical support for children and young people who have been abused or neglected,” Ms Boyle said.
“The Health Passport ensures each child receives a health check when they are placed in out-of-home care, with that information travelling with the child, ensuring appropriate and timely health care.
“In Cairns, the SAFE KIDS Unit is already providing health assessments and health plans for the region’s vulnerable children and young people.”
The SAFE KIDS Child and Family Health and Safety Network meeting today is held to bring together key government departments and non-government organisations from the Cairns region who are involved in protecting children to network and share information.
“Child abuse is a community wide issue, and it is only by working together – government, non-government organisations and the community – that we can really tackle it,” Ms Boyle said.
To further enhance coordination between key child protection agencies in the Far North, the Department of Child Safety also recently established the Far North Queensland Children at Risk Action Network.
This network helps to build relationships across the Department of Child Safety, Queensland Health, Department of Communities, Queensland Police Service, Department of Education and the Arts and Disability Services Queensland.
Ends
Media contact: 3224 7477