Housing assistance as a contributor to child safety: building a child protection system
Peter Young, Christina Benham and Leisa Milla
Department of Housing
Contact Email:   Peter.YOUNGhousing.qld.gov.au

Queensland has recently undergone a significant reform of child protection services, which have included a number of measures to build a more effective child protection system. The Queensland Department of Housing is one of a number of agencies that are now a partner in the delivery of services to at-risk children and their families.

The key question of the paper is how does an agency, whose core business is the provision of housing assistance, respond in a meaningful and effective way to children in need of protection, and does this contribution really make a difference? Concepts explored will include influencing the culture of an organisation, alignment of internal policy with externally determined priorities and the learnings gained from working in partnership on a local and central level.

More specifically the paper will examine the way the Department of Housing engaged with the reform process whilst maintaining its identity as a housing agency. Included in the discussion will be the challenges faced by the department, both in developing and delivering a response to child protection, how we engaged with and built the capacity of housing staff to take some ownership of the reform agenda and our role in the wider government process.

Housing as a contributor to child protection services in Queensland is a practical example of an attempt at joined up government.

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