Teen’s prospects better living with abusive relative than in care home, Queensland court finds

A Queensland magistrate has found that a 14-year-old boy’s prospects would be better while living with an allegedly abusive relative than in a residential care home. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

A Queensland court has found a child’s prospects would be better off while living with an allegedly abusive relative than in a residential care home.

The 14-year-old Indigenous boy, referred to in court documents as Oliver Boland*, has spent large periods of his life in detention, including being held in a watch house 40 times in four years.