MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

Child Safety Officers among Queensland’s heroes

During my short time as Child Safety Minister, I have had the pleasure of meeting some of Queensland’s most dedicated and passionate workers.

I believe Child Safety Officers have one of the most difficult jobs in Government.

Their job requires them to make decisions that can have incredible effects on people’s lives.

It is often a thankless job. Unlike police officers, ambos and firies, Child Safety Officers rarely receive a heroes welcome when they knock on the front door of a family’s home.

More often they are threatened with violence, verbally abused or even physically assaulted.

Only yesterday in Brisbane, during an interview with Child Safety Officers, I’ve been advised that a father produced a gun wrapped in a towel. The officers calmly continued the interview, then left the room, taking the gun with them, before calling police who immediately arrived and arrested the man.

One CSO was almost run off the road when an angry family member chased after her in a car, another was stabbed during a visit last year.

When I recently visited to one Child Safety Service Centre, a machete-wielding mother was stalking the front door.

Even though I was concerned for the safety of the officers inside, the officers were professionally going about their business.

These are just some of the horrors officers face every single day. And yet, day after day, they return to face them all again.

They do it because they want to give children who don’t have loving, capable parents the chance to live a better life.

That’s what it is all about for these compassionate men and women - the reward of seeing once frightened, neglected or abused children in a safe, loving and nurturing environment.

It’s about watching those same children grow and mature, with the love and support of caring foster parents, into young people with enormous potential.

It’s about watching them reach that potential and move into rewarding careers and have families of their own – knowing that their children will have a safe and happy home because they have learnt the skills their own parents lacked.

Child safety staff are clearly doing an amazing job – recent figures from the Office of the Child Guardian show that 98 per cent of kids in care say they feel safe in care, and 90 per cent said they were better off since coming into care.

Being a foster carer or a Child Safety Officer is not work everyone can do – it’s very, very tough. But it’s some of the most important and rewarding work undertaken in this state.

These officers deserve our support Mr Speaker, so I’m urging all Members, before Christmas, to visit the Child Safety Service Centre in their area and recognise the great work that they are doing.

Media contact: Jo Crompton 3224 7477