The latest available state government statistics reveal more than 4076 children will start their new year in state care – the highest number on record.
That includes 408 children in residential care and another 105 in emergency care.
Residential and emergency care (also known as commercial care) are the least desirable forms of state care, in which shift workers care for multiple children in group homes.
Since Rachel Sanderson became the Minister, an additional 493 children have come into care – a rise of 14% since the 2018 election.
The September 2019 Department of Child Protection statistics are the latest that are publicly available – a four month lag time.
Under Ms Sanderson the availability of monthly statistics about the state of the child protection system has drastically decreased - despite the Marshall Liberal Government’s promise of a more transparent and accountable government.
Quotes attributed to the Shadow Minister for Child Protection Jayne Stinson
4076 is a big number of little lives - but it’s highly likely there are many more children who are actually in state care right now.
We don’t know exactly how many children are in care because under Minister Sanderson there’s now a four month delay in publishing the monthly figures.
Rachel Sanderson is a Minister who is out of her depth.
If Ms Sanderson doesn’t know – or can’t be honest and transparent – about what’s happening in child protection, how can anyone have confidence she can fix the many problems?