Resi-care in Queensland is meant to be a last resort, but it’s needed more than ever

Just before his 16th birthday, Zephaniah Kennedy admitted himself to the Toowoomba Youth Mental Health Service ward and spent the next three days there on suicide watch.

Zephaniah, who had been in the child protection system since the age of 10, feared for his future after another foster placement had broken down.

“I felt so absolutely robbed [of] hope,” he said.

“I very well could have ended up in a residential care…