Queensland child deaths at five-year high - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The Queensland Family and Child Commission has reported an almost 60 per cent increase in deaths of children known to child protection services. (ABC Kimberley: Andrew Seabourne)

Ninety-one children known to child protection services died in the last financial year in Queensland, up 59.6 per cent from the previous year.

It's also the highest number known to the child protection system to have died in five years.

Overall, 452 children died, 312 of those from a natural cause.

The number of Queensland children known to child safety who have died has gone up almost 60 per cent in a year, a new report reveals.

The Queensland Family and Child Commission's annual report showed 452 children died here in the 2025–26 financial year.

Preliminary figures revealed 91 of those children were known to the child protection system.

The commission is responsible for recording and maintaining a register of child deaths in the state. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi)

This is an increase of 59.6 per cent on the previous year, when 57 children known to child safety died.

It is also the highest number of children known to the child protection system to have died in five years.

The commission is responsible for recording and maintaining a register of child deaths in the state.

It recommended coronial data collection be improved. 

The report said the child death prevention team identified that recording the school the deceased child was enrolled in would make it easier to identify systemic issues, examine patterns and strengthen future prevention work.

"This recommendation remained under consideration by the State Coroner at the end of the reporting period," the review, released on Friday, said.

The number of child deaths from natural causes was 312 in the 2025–26 financial year, while the number from external causes including transport incidents or non-intentional injury-related deaths was 94.

The register showed quad bikes continued to present significant risks to children living in or visiting rural communities.

It also "identified a concerning pattern of deaths involving severe nutritional deficiencies associated with highly restricted diets".

Analysis found in some cases children had diets "almost exclusively of cow's milk". (ABC News: Will Murray)

Analysis by the child death prevention team found that, in several cases, children had a diet "almost exclusively of cow's milk".

"We referred these findings to the State Coroner and Queensland Health, recommending further investigation and consideration of system responses," the report said.

"Both agencies responded by progressing further work to better understand the issue and identify opportunities for prevention".

The ABC reported in August that drinking too much cow's milk contributed to the deaths of three Queensland toddlers in the past two years.

The Commission of Inquiry into Child Safety made 52 recommendations to the government to address what it called serious failures. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)

The preliminary data also revealed 102 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child deaths have been recorded, compared to 88 deaths in the year before.

A Crisafulli government spokesperson said every child's death was devastating and tragic.

"It is critical we constantly work through those circumstances to ensure we have the strongest possible system in place to protect children," the spokesperson said in a statement.

They said there are many reasons that children become known to protective services. 

"Priority is always placed on helping with early identification and responses to risk factors and warning signs, including health, disability, and mental health," the spokesperson said.

Labor opposition leader Steven Miles said the state's child protection system was in crisis.

"There are now more children in residential care and more children known to child safety who have tragically died on [the Child Safety] Minister Amanda Camm's watch," he said in a statement.

The Child Death Review Board will provide its 2025-26 annual report to government by October 31 2026.

In June, a report by the state's Commission of Inquiry into Child Safety made 52 recommendations to the government to address what it called serious failures.

The state government accepted 32 and accepted a further 16 in principle.

The key accepted recommendations include a feasibility status to assess the concept of simple adoption, and to entrench adoption as an option regardless of cultural background.