Annual Report

2014-15

Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services

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Contentfromthisannualreportshould be attributed as:The StateofQueensland (DepartmentofCommunities,Child Safety and DisabilityServices) Annual Report2014–2015.

ISSN:2201-084X

28 September 2015

The Honourable Shannon Fentiman MP

Minister for Communities, Women and Youth

Minister for Child Safety

Minister for Multicultural Affairs

The HonourableCoralee O’Rourke MP

Minister for Disability Services

Minister for Seniors and

Minister Assisting the Premier on North Queensland

Dear Ministers

I am pleased to present the Annual Report 2014–2015 and financial statements for the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services.

The report is prepared on the basis of the current administrative arrangements for this department applying for the whole of the 2014–2015 financial year. That is, it reflects the structure, operations and performance of the department as at 30 June 2015.

I certify that this annual report complies with:

the prescribed requirements of the Financial Accountability Act 2009 and the Financial and Performance Management Standard 2009

the detailed requirements set out in the Annual Report Requirements for Queensland Government agencies.

A checklist outlining the annual reporting requirements can be found in Appendix 6 at page 164 of the report.

Yours sincerely

A.G. Hayes

Acting Director-General

Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services

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Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services Annual Report 2014–15

Contents

Director-General’s message

Overview: Part 1 ...... 8

About us ...... 9

Our clients

Our budget

Our people

Our contribution

Our key challenges

Reform and Innovation

Child and Family Services reforms

Disability Services reforms

Social Investment reforms

Our regional highlights

BrisbaneRegion

CentralQueenslandRegion

FarNorthQueenslandRegion

NorthCoast Region

NorthQueenslandRegion

SouthEast Region

SouthWest Region

Financial summary

2014–15 financialsummary

Our structure ...... 20

Our key governing body ...... 22

Our performance overview ...... 25

Client and community: Part 2 ...... 28

Child Safety Services

Improving outcomes for children and
young people

Providing quality care environments for children living away from home

Supporting families to care for their children safely

Child and Family Services future
directions

Community Services

Create pathways to social and economic participation

Seniors ...... 38

Carers ...... 41

Volunteering ...... 42

Multicultural affairs ...... 44

Women

Domesticandfamilyviolence

Direct community recovery activities to
promote resilient individuals and
communities

Continue strong partnerships with
non-government stakeholders and facilitate enterprise, innovation and workforce and
industry development

Community Services future directions

Disability Services

Lead and facilitate Queensland’s transition
to the National Disability Insurance
Scheme

Fund and provide disability supports to Queenslanders with disability and enable
greater consumer choice and control

Disability Services future directions

Business and governance process:
Part 3 ...... 62

Embrace innovation and new ways of
thinking

Streamline business and governance
processes

Streamline procurement and contracting
processes

Facilitate productive engagement with clients, communities and other stakeholders

Embrace new technologies to drive
|innovation and improvement

Provide accurate and timely performance information

Future directions

People: Part 4 ...... 74

Develop organisational capability
and agility

Develop a positive and productive culture
and support reform through effective
leadership

Support staff through the changing human
service environment and maintain
establishment controls

Future directions

Financial statements: Part 5 ...... 81

Appendices: Part 6 ...... 136

Appendix1: Our legislation

Appendix 2: Government bodies

Appendix 3: Governance boards and committees

Appendix 4: Performance statement

Appendix 5: National partnership
agreements and national agreements

Appendix 6: Compliance Checklist

Glossary

Contactus

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Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services Annual Report 2014–15

Director-General’s message

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Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services Annual Report 2014–15

Iampleasedtopresentthe 2014–15 annual reportforthe DepartmentofCommunities, Child Safetyand DisabilityServices.

The department exists to enable vulnerable Queenslanders to participate in and contribute to a fair, resilient and prosperous Queensland. We strive to help build safe, caring and connected communities, deliver quality frontline services, and create jobs and a diverse economy.

The department is a leading contributor to Queensland’s socialand human services sector and ourthree service areas – child safety,disabilityservices and communityservices – are undergoing major changes. The reforms underway are aimed atinvesting in prevention and early intervention, providing greater choice and control, and enablingourclientsto improve their quality of life.

Thisyear sawmanyachievementsthat demonstratehowwe are making areal differencetothe lives ofQueenslanders. Somehighlightsinclude:

Child and Family Services

  • commissioning new local and community-based Family and Child Connect services and extra Intensive Family Support Services, plus a first tranche of extra Domestic and Family Violence funding
  • substantially progressing the second stage of the audit of children and young people in care
  • reducing the number of child protection intakes
  • training more than 3500 departmental and non-government staff and managers in the Strengthening Families, Protecting Children Practice Framework
  • introducing unprecedented engagement in co-design and innovation
  • undertaking substantial work and effort on the government’s response to the ground-breaking report Not Now Not Ever: Putting an End to Domestic and Family ViolenceCommunity Services and Industry
  • continuing Social Services Investment reforms and red tape reduction initiatives that delivered benefits for hundreds of funded organisations, and refocusing our efforts towards outcomes-based programs
  • starting work to create new womens’, youth and seniors strategies
  • providing community recovery responses to assist the people of Central Queensland, North Coast, Brisbane and South-East Queensland, deal with major natural disasters
  • provided $672,000 in grants under the Valuing Diversity Grants Program to support more than 100 multicultural events in 2015 attended by more than 1.1 million people
  • delivering Queensland Multicultural Week involving 86 events across the state attended by almost 90,000 people.

Disability Services

  • commissioning more than $1.1 billion in services with Queensland’s non-government sector organisations
  • reducing the anxiety of Accommodation Support and Respite Services(ASRS) clients and staff by committing to the continued service provision of government accommodation and respite services as a provider in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) environment for high and complex needs clients
  • advancing negotiations for an early NDIS launch, the NDIS Bilateral Agreement and a Queensland NDIS Workforce Strategy
  • engaging and supporting people with disability, their families and carers, service providers and support workers to ensure a smooth, well-managed implementation of the NDIS
  • reducing waiting times for disability service assessments
  • moving people with disabilityout of inappropriate health and hospital settings
  • providing increased choice of services to more than 1600 people withdisability through the Your Life Your Choice program
  • developing a system for reporting the use of restrictive practices to improve the lives of people with disability
  • supporting the non-government sector to support people with high and complex disability support needs through the delivery of training aimed at implementing best practices

Our corporate areas continued to provide great support to our frontline staff by delivering more learning and development opportunities, equipping us with better technologies, running effective financial, funding, and human resource systems, providing legal services and advice, reporting and analysing our data, undertaking reviews, handling complaints and investigations, managing our facilities and delivering our capital programs.

I was especially pleased with work undertaken during the year to help build the capability of our staff. This includes launching the department’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Capability Action Plan —known as Respectfully Journey Together— undertaking a significant realignment of central office teams, refreshing Operational Performance Reviews, and implementing the 2014 Employee Opinion Survey Action Plan and the 2015 employee opinion survey.

The department has provided great support to our two Ministers — the Minister for Communities, Women and Youth, Minister for Child Safety and Minister for Multicultural Affairs, the HonourableShannon Fentiman MP, and the Minister for Disability Services, Minister for Seniors and Minister Assisting the Premier on North Queensland, the HonourableCoralee O'Rourke MP.

I would liketothankournon-government partners, volunteersanddepartmentalstaff fortheirenthusiasm,hard workand commitmentto deliverservices thatmake a positive difference in so many Queenslanders’ lives.

With a new ambitious five-year strategy to guide our path I lookforwardto continuing to transform our services by providing great customer service, investing and working smartly, building strong and collaborative partnerships, and enabling our workforce and industry.

Michael Hogan

Director-General

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Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services Annual Report 2014–15

Overview

Part 1

About us

The Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services is committed to enabling vulnerable Queenslanders to improve their lives, delivering better public value and reducing disadvantage.

The department was established in April 2012 through the Governor-in-Council, under the authority of the Public Service Act 2008 and the Queensland Government Gazette No. 77. We are accountable to two Ministers; the Minister for Communities, Women and Youth, Minister for Child Safety and Minister for Multicultural Affairs and the Minister for Disability Services, Minister for Seniors and Minister Assisting the Premier on North Queensland.

Ourobjectives are to:

  • for our clients: improve well-being, safety, capability and participation of vulnerable Queenslanders
  • for communities: improve liveability, resilience and cohesion in Queensland communities
  • for our partners: improve capability, sustainability, innovation and productivity of social service systems in Queensland.

Ourpriorities to revitalise frontline servicesfor Queenslanders are:

  • create pathways to social and economic participation
  • work closely with our partners
  • strengthen disability services through greater consumer choice and control
  • ensure value for money
  • embrace innovation
  • direct community recovery activities that promote resilience
  • cut red tape so resources can be directed to frontline services
  • drive reforms that deliver value for money and manage public investment
  • build the capacity of the community sector.

Thedepartmentmakesasignificant investmentinfrontline services throughnon- governmentorganisations(NGOs).

In 2014–15,the departmentcontractedservices from 1186 government and non-government organisations with approximately $1.469 billion to support individuals,families andcommunities.

The department also invested $91.418 million for services from the Commonwealth for the delivery of disability services for people over the age of 65.

Weareresponsibleforadministering (or jointlyadministering)legislation thatregulates the services we deliverorfund (more details arecontained inAppendix 1frompage137).

Multicultural Affairs Queensland transitioned to the department following the gazettal of Administrative Arrangements Order (No. 1) 2015, further strengthening the department’s capacity to enable Queenslanders of all backgrounds to participate in and contribute to a safe, caring and connected Queensland.

Our clients

To fulfil our objectives and improve the well-being, resilience, safety and participation of vulnerable Queenslanders, we provide services ranging from everyday support for families and individuals to services in emergencies.

Theseservices are deliveredacrossQueensland throughseven regionsand supported bya centralcorporateoffice. Contact details are on page 171.

Our clients come from a diverse base and we are responsible for supporting some of the most disadvantaged Queenslanders, including:

  • children at risk of harm and their families
  • people with disability
  • people who are subject to domestic and family violence
  • olderpeople.

We supportcarers, volunteering, young people, women, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and people and communities affected by natural disasters.

We work closely with other government and non-government health and human services organisations to support our clients and to improve their lives.

Ourbudget

In 2014–15,weworked to:

  • ensure value for money and return on social investment in services and service delivery models
  • maintain effective budget management
  • identify efficiencies through service and business innovation
  • ensure investment is targeted towards services that support the most vulnerable.

The adjusted budget for the department in 2014–15 was $2.521 billion.

The department also administered:

  • a published budget of $236.2 million on behalf of the state to reimburse providers for concessions to eligible pensioners, seniors and veterans for rates, electricity, water, reticulated natural gas and electricity for life support
  • payments for natural disasters on behalf of the state and Australian governments. For example, grants for Emergency Assistance, Essential Household Contents, Structural Assistance, and the Essential Services Safety and Reconnection scheme.

Comprehensive financial statements can be found in Part 5: Financial statements, page 81.

A financial summary is also included from page 17.

Our people

Our people are our most valuable resource and deliver outstanding customer focused services across Queensland.

Asat 30 June2015,we had 5933.67 full-time equivalentstaff.Of these,58.65 percent wereemployed in frontlineroles, 30.74 per cent in

frontline support roles and 10.61 percentincorporateroles.

Our contribution

The department contributes to delivering the government’s objectives to:

  • deliver quality frontline services
  • build safe, caring and connected communities
  • create jobs and a diverse community.

We do this by:

  • implementing the government response to the Bryce report
  • supporting a seamless transition to the NDIS
  • improving out-of-home care and post-care experiences for Queensland children and young people
  • building social cohesion and connectedness through community action and partnerships
  • implementing an NDIS launch site
  • supporting people with high and complex care needs to choose their preferred provider
  • assisting communities to develop resilience to respond to and cope with the impact of natural disasters
  • supporting the government’s participation with the Australian Government to address violence against women
  • enhancing services to support social and economic opportunities for young people
  • preventing and responding to violence against women and children.

Our key challenges

There are environmentalfactorsthat shapeourstrategic directionandservicedelivery,including:

  • population growth and changing demographics resulting in increasing demand for services
  • increasing expectations for better access to integrated services
  • major state and national reforms
  • the impact of natural disasters on Queenslanders and on the state and national economies.

However, effective risk management enables the department to make informed decisions about opportunities and challenges, including:

  • managing demand for services
  • maximising return on investment and results for Queenslanders
  • developing the government’s enabling role in delivering services to vulnerable people
  • improving information systems to support business innovation and reform
  • engaging stakeholders to co-design anddeliver services
  • growing industry workforce and organisational capability.

In addition, the Financial Accountability Act 2009 requires the department to establish and maintain appropriate systems of internal control and risk management.

Reform and Innovation

Our reform and innovation agenda is motivated by our determination to reduce disadvantage and enable vulnerable Queenslanders to improve their lives.

Our agenda is focused and driven by:

  • Queensland Government priorities
  • The Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry
  • Transition to the NDIS
  • The Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland
  • Corporate Services Reforms

We will implement our reform agenda through an approach which is customer-centric, innovative and collaborative. We will work in partnership with other government agencies, non-government organisations and our customers.

Key reforms in Child and Family Services, Disability Services and Social Investment will focus on growing capacity and capability in Queensland’s social services, investing in prevention and early intervention and enabling our clients to choose and control the services they receive.

Child and Family Services reforms

The Child and Family Services reforms will deliver on the department’s responsibilities set out in the government’s response to the Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry Report.

Over 10 years, the program will build a new support system for children and their families that will have a greater focus on supporting families to provide a safe and secure home for their children.

Families will receive support earlier to care for their children, and the capacity of the non-government services sector will be increased to provide more of the services that vulnerable families need.

Over half ofthe additional $406 million funding overfive years for the child and family reforms has been allocatedto secondary support services thatwill support families to care for their children and keep them at home. Over time, this will resultin fewer children being cared for within the child protection system.

The following strategic priorities guide and support the overall program of reform:

  • share responsibility for the safety and well-being of Queensland children
  • support Queensland families earlier
  • working better with Queensland families who are in contact with the child protection system
  • improve out-of-home care and post-care experiences for Queensland children and young people
  • meet the requirements and needs of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families andcommunities
  • deliver quality services to Queensland children and families through a capable, motivated workforce and client-focused organisations
  • build a responsive, accountable, cost-effective and sustainable child protection system in Queensland
  • enhance the significant contribution made by foster and kinship carers who will remain the primary placement provider for children in care through improved support and training, so they are better equipped to meet children’s needs.

Disability Services reforms