Why Australia keeps failing to keep its children safe: A national child protection crisis
Jul 2025
Written by Noel Macnamara
In homes meant to nurture, in centres meant to protect, and in systems built to rehabilitate—Australia continues to fail its most vulnerable children. From toddlers in childcare to teens in detention, recent revelations show that far too many young lives are being harmed in the very places that claim to care for them.
A national crisis of protection
You would think that children placed in out-of-home care—whether it’s a daycare centre, a residential care home, or youth detention—would be safer than ever. But the truth is: they’re not.
Across Australia, a child protection crisis is unfolding. In every state and territory, stories are emerging that are not just heartbreaking—they’re enraging. Children are being abused, neglected, and retraumatised under the watch of systems meant to safeguard them.
A national crisis of safety: Childcare abuse and systemic failure
In 2024 and 2025, devastating revelations shattered public trust in the Australian early childhood education and care sector. Two major scandals exposed not only the horrific abuse of children but also systemic regulatory failures that enabled it. In Queensland, Ashley Paul Griffith was charged with serious child sexual offences. In Victoria, Joshua Brown was accused of sexually abusing dozens of children across more than 20 early childhood centres—over several years. His Working With Children Check had expired. He kept working anyway.
Even more disturbing, Four Corners uncovered evidence that whistleblowers were ignored, complaints were dismissed, and some providers actively silenced concerns. In one case, a mother was told her complaint was “unfounded”—even as the abuse continued.
Many of the implicated centres are run for profit. According to the Four Corners investigation, some operate on razor-thin financial margins, meaning revenue is prioritised over child safety. The result? Undertrained and underpaid staff, inadequate supervision, and a dangerous lack of external accountability. This is not just a failure of individual centres—it is a failure of child safety regulation, oversight, and political will.
Across Australia, children are being harmed in institutional settings—despite national frameworks and mandatory reporting laws that are meant to protect them. Whether it’s an early learning centre, a residential care home, or youth detention, the common thread is institutional betrayal.
Residential care: Children left to fend for themselves
Residential care in Australia is in crisis. It’s supposed to provide stability for children who can’t live with family. But across Australia, it’s become a dangerous place.
Between July 2021 and March 2023, the Commission for Children and Young People in Victoria received reports of 423 incidents of child sexual exploitation in residential care, involving 165 children. Alarmingly, 64% of these incidents involved children under the age of 16, with some as young as 12 years old.
Liana Buchanan, Victoria’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, emphasised the severity of the situation, stating:
“It’s clear that without stronger action, children in residential care remain at extreme risk of harm due to criminal activity by adults.”
Further highlighting systemic issues, Acting Commissioner Meena Singh criticised the government’s inaction, noting that recommendations to address sexual exploitation in residential care remain unimplemented. She pointed out that inexperienced and young child protection workers are often left in charge, leading to high turnover rates and inadequate care.
In Queensland, Victoria, and beyond, vulnerable children are being targeted by sex offenders who hang around homes, offering drugs and alcohol in exchange for sexual exploitation. An ABC investigation in May 2025 exposed just how widespread and devastating this has become.
Even the workers trying to help are scared to speak out. In June 2025, Queensland residential care workers called for an independent complaints mechanism. They said they fear retaliation if they report unsafe practices or cover-ups.
Former residents describe chronic neglect, emotional abuse, and a revolving door of underqualified staff. These are not just bad apples. This is a broken residential care system.
These statements and data reveal a distressing reality: children in out-of-home care settings are being failed by the very systems designed to protect them. The exploitation they face is not only a violation of their rights but also a profound societal failing that demands urgent, coordinated reform.
Youth detention: Trauma on top of trauma
Australia locks up more children per capita than almost any other developed country—and the majority are Indigenous.
In Western Australia, 16-year-old Cleveland Dodd died by suicide in 2023 while locked in solitary confinement. His death sparked national outrage, but little has changed. Reports show that restraint, isolation, and poor mental health care are still widespread in youth detention.
A 2024 report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare showed that nearly 60% of children in youth detention in Australia are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander—a staggering statistic that points to the deep failure of both the justice and child protection systems.
Human Rights Watch has slammed Australia’s approach as punitive, harmful, and out of step with international standards.
“The system is broken”: Queensland finally admits the truth
In June 2025, Queensland’s government did something rare: it admitted it had failed.
Following mounting scandals in child safety, the Premier announced a full Commission of Inquiry into the child protection system.
“We’ve seen too many children harmed,” the government said, promising to “take steps others have been afraid to take.”
“Australia’s child protection system is failing. We need change at a national level.”
A national crisis—and no one at the helm
You’d think that when children are taken into care—whether it’s a childcare centre, a residential home, or a youth detention facility—they’d finally be safe. You’d think that once the state steps in, their trauma would end—not deepen. But the truth is: they’re not safe. Not even close.
Across every state and territory, the headlines are disturbingly familiar:
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Children abused by carers
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Children exploited in residential homes
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Children locked in isolation cells or left untreated in youth detention
These aren’t isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a national child safety crisis—one that has been growing in silence for decades. Children are being retraumatised by the very systems meant to protect them. They are slipping through the cracks of fragmented services and fractured leadership.
Who holds the whole picture?
Right now, children’s safety and wellbeing are scattered across different portfolios—health, education, youth justice, child protection, early learning. Each minister has a piece of the puzzle, but no one is holding the full picture.
When tragedy strikes—a death in detention, a child sexually exploited in care, an abuse scandal in childcare—we scramble for answers. But there’s no single national leader who can connect the dots, cut through the red tape, and drive child safety reform.
It’s time for a federal minister for children
We need a Federal Minister for Children in Australia—someone whose sole job is to champion the rights, safety, and wellbeing of children.
A Federal Minister for Children could:
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Coordinate a national child protection strategy across states, sectors, and systems
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Oversee implementation of recommendations from child abuse royal commissions and independent inquiries
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Elevate children’s safety and wellbeing to the national agenda—not just when a scandal breaks
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Push for consistent national child safety standards and protections
We have a Minister for Arts. For Sport. For Aged Care.
But no Minister for the people who carry our entire future.
