Investigation launched into 'horrific' cases of alleged child neglect

The Queensland Child and Family Commission will investigate two cases of "horrific" alleged neglect of vulnerable children in Brisbane this week.

Child Safety Minister Di Farmer announced the independent investigation on Friday after the death of four-year-old Willow Dunn and discovery of two teenage boys at a home in Stafford.

In a statement, Ms Farmer said she had contacted Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath to ensure the investigation would begin "as quickly as possible".

"I know the community wants answers about these two horrific incidents, and so do I," she said.

"There is absolutely no excuse for the neglect of children in our community."

The investigation will be carried out by Commissioner Cheryl Vardon and take place "completely at arms length" from the government.

The independent investigation into both incidents comes less than two months after a damning review of the department's complaint system by Queensland Ombudsman Phil Clarke that identified issues including misclassification and under-reporting.

The report also declared the complaint system was "unnecessarily complex and confusing" and leads to "frustration and delay".

It followed earlier calls for an overhaul of the system from the coroner and auditor-general.

An answer to an LNP question on notice in January revealed 6453 reports of abuse and neglect were not acted upon in time between January and June, 2019, an average of 35 each day.

Act for Kids executive director Stephen Beckett said the state's child safety system had undergone extensive review but "clearly" there were "quite vulnerable kids that slip through the cracks".

Police allege four-year-old Willow Dunn, who reportedly lived with Down syndrome, suffered "sustained mistreatment" during her short life.

Addressing the media on Friday afternoon, Ms Farmer said the conditions in which the 17- and 19-year-old boys were found in Stafford – reportedly locked in a room with a single mattress on the floor – were "terrible".

She refused to comment on whether either of the cases had been previously brought to the attention of her department, which receives about one call every four minutes and manages about 30,000 children.

She said the investigation would seek to find out "where and if the system failed these young people".

"We are going to get the answers," Ms Farmer said. "And whatever the commissioner recommends to us needs to be done, that is what we will do."

Ms Vardon said work had already begun, alongside investigations from police and other agencies, with a report to be handed to the government in as early as six weeks.

"We're going to pull in extra resources to do this as quickly as possible," Ms Vardon said.

The report would also be recommended for public release in some form, bearing in mind the privacy of the families involved, to ensure the public is given "as much information as possible".

"We begin by requesting information to first of all establish a chronology and then to look at whether or not agencies shared information, how effective they were, [and] how often they saw the young people or the child," she said.

"And then we make systems reviews to the government in order to bring about as quickly as we can changes that mean the lives of children will be saved."