A new Child and Family Centre in south-west Queensland will provide an enhanced response to children and families in need of assistance.
Minister for Children Leanne Linard officially opened the Southern Downs Child and Family Centre today and said the new service and its location would greatly strengthen the department’s capacity to work with communities from Ripley all the way to Warwick and Stanthorpe.
“The South-West Region covers an enormous area of more than 400,000 square kilometres and the work of the new centre will see cases managed from the Ipswich, Scenic Rim and Southern Downs area down to the New South Wales border.”
“This new centre has been designed to cater for projected population growth. There will also be the possibility of co-location for key partners to enhance services available from the new site,” she said.
The catchment of the new service centre encompasses the Ipswich suburbs of Eastern Heights, Churchill, and Willowbank in the north, to Boonah in the east, Nobby, and Clifton in the west, through to Warwick, Stanthorpe, and Wallangarra in the south.
Ms Linard said the name of the Child and Family Centre, which is in Ipswich’s Ripley Shopping Centre, signalled its targeted approach.
“While this is a move away from the previous Child Safety Service Centre naming convention, it reflects the planned co-location of other child and family support services at the new site,” Ms Linard said.
“The new service became fully operational in April 2020 and has been based in temporary locations until its new home here in the convenient and accessible Ripley Shopping Centre was very recently completed.”
Ms Linard said the new service is currently working with approximately 414 children and their families with 37 dedicated staff employed within the new centre providing support and assistance to children and young people and their families to meet their protection and care needs.
The staff have developed strong partnerships with Foster and Kinship Carers and local schools and already received positive feedback about their communication and engagement.
MP for Ipswich, Jennifer Howard said she was pleased that the staff numbers have been boosted by an additional 10 full-time positions
“The increased number of staff will boost the centre’s capacity to manage the transferred caseloads from other centres in Toowoomba and Ipswich.”
“This is the tenth service centre in the south-west region and underscores the Queensland Government’s commitment to providing support and care for families in regional Queensland,” she said.
