Queensland’s family and child commissioner has called for blue card requirements to be scrapped for First Nations kinship carers after a report found the system relies on “irrelevant information, overpolicing and subjective assessments”.
Since 2001, Queenslanders who work around children have needed to obtain a blue card, with offences including drug trafficking, murder and child abuse disqualifying a person from obtaining one. But a report by the Queensland Family & Child Commission (QFCC) found blue cards create additional barriers to placing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with their families.
The report concluded that blue card screening is “not designed” for kinship care. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, kinship care can mean being housed with relatives, close family friends or a member of their community and language group.
“Suitability for obtaining a blue card is based on irrelevant information, overpolicing and subjective assessments of an individual’s character by police and other sources at the time of an offence, rather than on the risk of harm to a child,” the report said.
The QFCC commissioner, Natalie Lewis, says blue card requirements should be abolished for First Nations kinship carers but the government should retain its existing departmental assessment process, which includes criminal history checks. Under this recommendation, people would still be disqualified from caring for children if they have committed serious offences such as causing harm to children.
Queensland has Australia’s second lowest rate of placement with First Nations kin. Just 21.7% of Indigenous children placed in care in Queensland are living with kinship carers according to the latest QFCC data.
Lewis said an inability to resolve the “constraints of the current system will mean more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children will continue to be placed with strangers or in residential care instead of with kin”.
“That is not in the best interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and therefore not acceptable,” she said.
Katter on card’s ‘intolerable side effects’
Katter’s Australian Party has been calling for an overhaul of Queensland’s blue card system for years. In 2021, the leader of the KAP, Robbie Katter, unsuccessfully introduced an amendment to the Working with Children Act which would have ensured blue cards in Indigenous communities were administered and assessed by community leaders.
These proposed changes would have gone beyond kinship carers to also cover those seeking employment working with children. The amendment would have encompassed offences such as stealing, drug trafficking and unlawful entry of a vehicle, but would not apply to more serious offences.
“The overreach and highly damaging unintended consequences of Queensland’s blue card system have been known for many years, and are at the heart of my blue card bill which I have put to the Queensland parliament three times,” Katter told Guardian Australia.
“Whether it’s knocking back First Australians trying to rebuild their lives and get back into the workforce or preventing kids from being cared for by their family members in their own communities, these are intolerable side effects of the system which – I would argue – is doing very little to keep kids safe.
Katter accused the Palaszczuk government of being “paralysed” and “afraid to act” on the issue.
“In the words of Palm Island mayor, Mislam Sam, we need the government to be brave,” he said.
Queensland’s attorney-general, Yvette D’Ath, said she welcomed the QFCC report and would work closely with the child safety minister, Craig Crawford, to respond to the recommendations.
“While we have done a lot to improve strategies to support First Nations blue card applicants, we acknowledge we can do more for kinship carers,” D’Ath said. “Where we can, we should support kin in helping care for family, which also takes pressure off the foster care system.
“It also leads to better outcomes for children, by still having connections with family.”
D’Ath said the department of child safety aims to increase the number of children living with kinship carers to 70% by 2026.
“I’m further advised that latest data shows 5,592 children in care were placed with kin – 335 more children than the same period last year,” she said.
