Children in care—Whereabouts unknown
482. Hon Nick Goiran to the minister representing the Minister for Child Protection:
I refer to the answer to my question without notice 366 asked on 18 June 2025.
(1) Have the three children the department reported to the Western Australia Police Force as missing persons been found?
(2) Have the two children recorded as "unaccounted for—not in contact" been found?
(3) Are the whereabouts of the seven children recorded as "unaccounted for—in contact" now known?
(4) For how many days were the whereabouts of the 12 children unknown and have any reports been received of the children being victims of crime during this period?
(5) How many children who are in the care of the CEO have their whereabouts currently recorded as—
(a) "unaccounted for—in contact";
(b) "unaccounted for—not in contact"; and
(c) "missing"?
Hon Jackie Jarvis replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. The following response has been provided by the Minister for Child Protection.
The Department of Communities advise the following as of 12 August 2025.
(1) The whereabouts of the three young people are now known.
(2) The whereabouts of the two young people are now known.
(3) The whereabouts of five of the seven young people are now known. One of the young people remains "unaccounted for—not in contact", and one remains "unaccounted for—in contact".
(4) The period the 12 young people's whereabouts were unknown varied between zero days and 13 days.
All reported or disclosed allegations or incidents relating to a child in care being a victim of crime are treated as a priority and investigated accordingly. Providing this information requires a significant diversion of resources to crosscheck individual case files to ensure that no matters were reported following the period of each child being unaccounted for. This diversion is not deemed an appropriate use of frontline resources.
(5) There are:
(a) four;
(b) five; and
(c) six.
