Qld Child Safety taps Deloitte to assess core IT system

Queensland's Department of Child Safety has tapped Deloitte Australia to audit its Unify client management system.

The audit into the Unify system “will begin immediately”, a department spokesperson told iTnews.  

The system is also set to be separately audited by the Queensland Audit Office, which is set to examine both the deployment and implementation.

The audits come on the back of a “critical failure” of the system that the current state government said had "the potential to put vulnerable children at risk".

The state government said that problems with the system had emerged since its go-live, affecting "staff access to information" and "the ability to share information with partner agencies."

In one instance, staff reported missing data relevant to “details of court order[s]”, the ABC reported.

The government also said there were problems with "system navigation and design."

In addition to Deloitte Australia’s appointment to audit the system, the department said that it had deployed a team of nine child safety staff to assist with the Unify system across the state.

The department said in a statement to iTnews that "addressing issues with Unify will be a top priority."

Unify has been set live in several stages.

It was built as both a "replacement of the core Child Safety and Youth Justice ICT system" and as "a contemporary case and client management system that will enable the best outcomes for vulnerable children, young people and their families," the department states on its website.

The system includes the data of around 15,500 children in the state currently subject to intervention (such as children at risk or in foster care), and is accessed by support workers in the field.

Unify's total cost has been put at $183 million by the current state government. 

That included an initial $51.1 million when the system was first announced in 2019, when an audit into the previous client management system found it was outdated and suffering from data integration issues first discovered in a separate 2015 audit.