The Commission of Inquiry into Child Safety has announced it will hold its first public hearing of 2026 in Southern Queensland with a key focus on the intersection between the child safety and youth justice systems.

The public hearing will be held in Toowoomba, commencing on Monday the 16th of February.

It will last for two weeks, with a possible third week, if required.

The hearings will be held at the Toowoomba Court House.

The Commission will hear evidence from Queensland Police Service and Youth Justice representatives, amongst others.

The announcement coincides with the Commission’s recent call for submissions on the Department’s role as a corporate parent to children in care, and how the child safety and youth justice systems overlap.

Commissioner, the Honourable Paul Anastassiou KC said the community’s input will help inform the Commission’s work in its review of the effectiveness of the child safety system to keep children and Queenslanders safe.

“Toowoomba is an important region in southeast Queensland,” Mr Anastassiou said.

“If you want to have a say on the department’s role as an effective corporate parent and the link between the child safety system and youth justice systems, then I encourage you to make a submission to the Commission.”

Anyone can make a submission.

The Commission is keen to hear from:

• residential (non-family-based) care workers, foster carer or kinship carers
• children or young people in out-of-home care who have also been in the youth justice system
• children and young people in out-of-home care community members who have been a victim of crime at the hands of a young person in out-of-home care
• community members who have been negatively affected by children or young people in residential (non-family-based) care in your neighbourhood.

To make a submission and for more information head to the website: www.childsafetyinquiry.qld.gov.au/submissions/call-for-submissions-youth-justice-and-corporate-parenting

The Toowoomba public hearings will be live streamed.

Hearing for the child protection litigation model

Separately, the Commission of Inquiry into Child Safety will continue its hearing about the child protection litigation model in the week commencing next Monday, the 2nd of February to better understand the issues concerning the legal process of applying for and making child protection orders, and to hear evidence from part- heard witnesses and witnesses not reached in previous hearing blocks.

The public hearing for the child protection litigation model was held last year, between December the 8th and 12th, and heard evidence from representatives of the Director of Child Protection Litigation (DCPL), including Director Nigel Miller and representatives from the Office of the Child and Family Official Solicitor (OCFOS) from the Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety.

The public hearing about the child protection litigation model will be held at Courtroom 23, Brisbane Magistrates Court, 363 George Street.

These proceedings also will be live-streamed. 

This article appeared in On Our Selection News, 29 January 2026.