Children "have not been protected" despite being identified as at risk of harm because Queensland child safety officers didn't follow procedures and police refused to share information, a review has found.
The Queensland Families and Child Commission (QFCC) has found caseworkers failed to develop and enact plans to protect children when parents agree to voluntary interventions.
In one case, a child was in need of protection but a plan wasn't developed for several months, and when it eventually was the parents denied consenting to it.
"Since the case plan included actions they were unable or unwilling to complete, this had serious repercussions in terms of the safety of the child," said the report, released on Friday afternoon.
The commission said the government must ensure caseworkers follow procedures and respond to warning signs when voluntary interventions are failing to protect a child.
"At times, Child Safety procedures have not been complied with, which has meant some parents have not received the supports they needed to care for their children, and some children have not been protected," the report said.
The report also found that government departments were not properly sharing information that was critical to making decisions about children at risk.
Caseworkers closed a child's case because police didn't share information they had about the parent using and dealing drugs from their house.
There was no reason given but police said it could have been because that information was unverified from an anonymous source, it didn't contain anything Child Safety had specifically asked for or they didn't want to raise expectations that they would share information "as a matter of course."
In other cases, the department also made decisions based on its assumptions about the motivations of people reporting concerns rather than a child's safety.
Child Safety workers concluded that one child didn't need protection despite concerns about parental neglect and drug use because they thought that report was motivated by a custody battle.
"Instead of acting on the reports, it referred the family to a secondary service," the report said.
"The parent did not engage."
The commission called for information-sharing processes to help professionals make decisions about child safety reports and to "recognise and negate" the influence of assumptions on decision-making.
Minister for Children Leanne Linard said the report clearly identified there were areas for improvement and significant changes were under way.
"I absolutely accept that our oversight body, the QFCC who have completed a review, found that there were areas for improvement," the minister told reporters on Friday.
"Those three recommendations are contained in the report that has been tabled.
"The response to that outlines the significant following actions the department has taken to address those issues.
"There have been significant changes across the agency - we're talking about additional frontline staff, we're talking about the appointment of a chief practitioner and robust oversight processes."
