Rights and responsibilities

It is our responsibility to ensure that children and young people in the child protection system are cared for in a safe and accountable way. This involves:

• Standards of care
   
  Foster and kinship carers are required to provide a level of care which is consistent with the statement of standards, as outlined in section 122 of the Child Protection Act 1999. The statement of standards provides a way to measure quality of care and forms a basis for assessing whether a care environment is acceptable. The standards are interpreted with consideration to the needs of each individual child.
  
  
• Statement of commitment
   
  The Statement of Commitment between our department and the foster and kinship carers of Queensland has been developed in collaboration with Queensland Foster and Kinship Care, PeakCare Queensland and the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak. It reflects the shared commitment of our partnership with you for the benefit of children and young people in care.
  
  
• Charter of rights for a child in care
  
   As outlined in schedule 1 of the Child Protection Act 1999, the Charter describes the core rights that apply to every child or young person who is subject to the custody or guardianship of our department. Each child or young person who is placed in out-of-home care must be told about the charter of rights.
  
  
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
  
  Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that public services and governments are to provide children with the freedom and opportunities to express their views and that the service or government must consider their views in a meaningful way. The Convention came into force in September 1990 and is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights - civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. Australia ratified the Convention in 1990 and in doing so, committed to protecting and ensuring children's rights and to being held accountable for this commitment before the international community.
  
  
• Reporting missing children
  
  If a child in your care goes missing, you will need to know how to respond in this situation.

The Child Protection Act 1999 outlines the appropriate standards for providing quality care. Foster and kinship carers and service providers have a duty to comply with the Act. For further information, refer to our legislation page.