Thuringowa Child Safety Service Centre has finally moved back into their Blackhawk Boulevard office after their building sustained significant damage during the floods.
Minister for Child Safety, Youth and Women Di Farmer and Member for Thuringowa Aaron Harper today met with staff at the newly reopened office, more than six months since the devastating floods in February.
“It’s great to see the office open again and everything getting back to normal,” Mr Harper said.
“Child Safety staff work incredibly hard every day to help keep kids safe, but since the flood event they have been going above and beyond.
“They’ve been having to work from different locations, without all their team in the one place, which is challenging enough.
“They’ve also been dealing with cases which are more complex than usual, because there are still a lot of families who are having housing issues since the flood, so they have to factor in homelessness issues and families moving around to find shelter.
“On top of this, during the flood event, many of our Child Safety staff were also personally affected by the flooding.
“Some were cut off from work by floodwaters so had to work remotely, while others had to evacuate their homes.
“I take my hat off to them for making sure services have been maintained this whole time, and it’s fantastic to see them to be back home in their own office.”
The flood event damaged meeting rooms, flooring, air-conditioning systems and a range of furniture and fittings at the Child Safety Service Centre.
Ms Farmer paid tribute to the work of Child Safety staff, who she said do an incredible job every day, despite dealing with cases which are far more complex than even just a few years ago.
“Five years ago, ice wasn’t even on our radar, but in the past year alone the number of families we’re working with who have issues with methamphetamines including ice has jumped 20 percent with more than a third of families affected,” she said.
“Flooding has increased that complexity even further, because many families are still without secure, stable long term accommodation, and our Child Safety staff are having to factor that in to the work they do.
“Our staff have showed tremendous resilience in the wake of this devastating flooding and I am very proud of their tremendous dedication to the children and young people they work so hard to keep safe.”
