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The girl's parents told the ABC police informed them their daughter died of a suspected overdose, but they are yet to receive a written explanation from the Department of Child Safety.
The number of deaths of children known to child safety services have gone up almost 60 per cent in one year. The parents of a girl who died in state care say they were not contacted by child safety until several days after her death.
Police told the parents she died of a suspected overdose, but they have not received a written explanation from the department. Deaths of children known to Queensland's child safety department have increased nearly 60 per cent in a year. The grieving family of a teenager who died in state care is demanding answers into what they believe was a preventable tragedy.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be identified under Queensland law, was found dead in an Ipswich residential care home on September 12, at about 10:30am. Her parents told the ABC that police informed them their daughter died of a suspected overdose, but they are yet to receive a written explanation from the Department of Child Safety.
They want to know why she was not checked on earlier that morning, and how she was able to access drugs while in the department's care.
"This was totally preventable," her father Tony* said. "I don't want this to happen to other kids. "The girl's mother, Nikola*, says she asked child safety to move her daughter out of a residential care home in August, after the teenager reported that another child there had been asking her for drugs. "She said she was telling them for a long time and they didn't move her; they're not listening to her.
" Nikola said her daughter was moved twice in the final week of her life, but child safety did not tell the family about the most recent move until after the death. The Queensland Family and Child Commission's latest annual report revealed child deaths are at a five-year high. Before that, the teenager had spent time in hospital receiving mental health treatment, her mother said.
"She's not for this world. ""Any task, she is the one who stepped in, like ,yes I can do it,," he said. The teenager's parents said after their divorce a couple of years ago, they struggled to manage her self-harm and suicidal behaviour. Nikola said she sought help from child safety in the hope it would keep her daughter safe, as she believed there would be around-the-clock supervision.
"We sent her there. What is the safety there?
" The girl's parents said they struggled to manage her self-harm and suicidal behaviour after their divorce. Due to Queensland's child safety laws, specific circumstances of children in care are not able to be confirmed. The ABC has spoken with other sources who have supported the parents' recollection of these events. Tony said the family told the department about his daughter's mental health history, and that she had also experienced bullying and racism at school.
In the months before her death, his daughter had shared social media posts from other accounts about overdose awareness, suicide and self-harm. Among the accounts she was following were profiles dedicated to getting sober and recovering from addiction. Nikola said she did not learn of her daughter's death until after 2:30pm, four hours after she was found dead. She said she did not find out from child safety, but from police officers who came to her door.
The mother said her calls to child safety went unanswered until the department contacted her the following Monday. She then organised a visit at the residential care home on Tuesday but said by the time she arrived, the room had been cleaned up and all of her daughter's belongings packed in boxes in the car.
A Queensland Police Service spokesperson said police are preparing a report for the coroner following "the non-suspicious death of a teenage girl at Ipswich on 12 September".
"Emergency services were called to the address around 10:30am following the girl being found unresponsive," a spokesperson said. A commission of inquiry into child safety published 52 recommendations in June to transform the sector, including moving away from residential care. A spokesperson for the Coroners Court of Queensland confirmed the death was under investigation and said, "as such, no further details can be provided at this time".
A spokesperson for the Department of Child Safety said the death of any child was "a tragedy" but said confidentiality provisions limited commenting on individual cases.
"When a child dies in care, we undertake a comprehensive review conducted by a specialist internal systems and practice review team," the spokesperson said. A spokesperson for Acting Minister for Child Safety Ros Bates said the commission of inquiry "was a line in the sand" and the department was continuing to review the circumstances of the girl's death.
ABC reported on the suicide of a 15-year-old Indigenous boyDeaths of children known to Queensland's child safety department have gone up almost 60 per cent in a year, according to the Queensland Family and Child Commission's latest annual report. The Child Death Review Board reviewed 13 suicide deaths of children known to the system in 2025-26. That was more than double the previous year and marked the highest number recorded during the six-year reporting period.
Queensland's family and child commissioner Luke Twyford said it was important to review the deaths of children in care.
"The death of any child is an immense loss, and it's vital we honour them by learning all we can from their life experiences,""The Queensland Child Death Review Board will conduct a review of any child known to the child protection system, and the learnings and recommendations from these reviews will be presented in the Board's Annual Report. " The Chief Executive Officer of PeakCare Queensland Kelly Jebb said it was devastating to hear that a child had died in care.
"Any death of a child in care is a great concern to us. Children enter the child safety system because they need safety and stability in their care and we all have a collective responsibility to make sure the system's providing that," she said.
Residential Care Child Safety Child Protection Queensland Family And Child Commission Amanda Camm Queensland Government Overdose
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