A high-level investigation will determine if Queensland's child safety system failed three disabled children, including one allegedly murdered by her father.
Child Safety Minister Di Farmer has appointed Cheryl Vardon, who leads the Queensland Family and Child Commission, to investigate two separate but equally appalling cases this week.
The first involves the alleged murder of Willow, a four-year-old girl with Down Syndrome. Her father is accused of murdering her at their Cannon Hill home.
The second case involves the alleged horrific neglect of two teenage boys with special needs, who were found living in squalid conditions at a Stafford property.
Toddler Willow Dunn who was found dead in her cot at her Brisbane home on Monday Source: Twitter
Horrifying photos of the boys, aged 17 and 19, naked but for filthy nappies have been shared with the media.
Neighbours have said they repeatedly went to child safety authorities and police saying the boys needed help and that they were at times locked inside a squalid bedroom.
The boys were discovered when paramedics were called to their Stafford home after their father died from a medical condition.
"People in Queensland need to have confidence that vulnerable children can and will be looked after," the child safety minister said on Friday.
"They need to know that there are systems in place to look after vulnerable children. And if there is any place in the system that has failed our children, that we can make those systems right."
Police are seen at a house in Stafford where two teenage boys aged 17 and 19 were discovered living in squalid conditions in Brisbane Source: AAP
Ms Farmer said that despite the government investing more than $700 million and employing more than 500 new staff since 2015 in reforming the child safety system, the department was still under "incredible pressure".
"The number of children requiring urgent attention increased by 10 per cent in the last year," she said.
"We are now ... getting a report about a child, possibly at risk of harm, every four minutes, across Queensland."
The independent inquiry has been tasked with establishing a timeline leading up to the death of Willow, and the discovery of the two boys.
Ms Vardon hopes to file a report in about six weeks detailing whether government agencies shared information effectively, and how often they saw the children involved.
"The community wants answers, the government wants answers and we don't want this to happen again," Ms Vardon said.
"If there is anything, though, that we see that needs immediate attention, in terms of the change to systems or procedures, then we don't wait until we finish the report, but we quickly alert the government."
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