News that 780 children in Queensland's residential care system have left placements and are now "self-placing" in unknown locations has sparked an emergency audit — but advocates say the situation is a long-standing consequence of a system that too often criminalises Indigenous families.

The Courier Mail revealed on Wednesday the state government had launched the audit to locate the 'missing' children, whose whereabouts are currently unknown. Of the 12,705 children in state care — including foster, kinship and residential placements — the Department of Child Safety cannot account for 780.

Most concerningly, the majority of residential care providers — 110 out of 146 — are unlicensed, meaning they are not subject to child protection laws or regular audits.

"Allowing one vulnerable child to self-place in Queensland is unacceptable to me, let alone 780 young people," Child Safety Minister Amanda Camm said on Wednesday.

"That's why I have ordered a full audit of the kids in care who are self-placing, to understand how the current system can be improved.

"It is vital we have an understanding of how we can better support these vulnerable children to get their lives back on track, and if they have a youth justice crossover — ensure we are doing all we can to better protect the community."

But advocates say this crisis is not new — and has been foreseeable for years. Fifty-three children known to the child protection system in Queensland died in 2023-24, compared with 72 in 2022-23 and 69 in 2021-22.

Sisters Inside CEO Debbie Kilroy said the figure was "not surprising," arguing the harm is embedded in the system itself.

"Many of the children flee from the harm being perpetrated by the State's services back into the arms of their loving families," she said.

"What the government defines as 'self-placing' is, in many cases, a desperate act of survival and love.

"The residential care industry is exactly that, an industry. A billion-dollar system where profit is extracted from the lives of vulnerable children. These children are not missing, they have been abandoned and harmed by a system that was never designed to love or protect them."

Ms Kilroy added it was "deeply disingenuous for the LNP — who have been instrumental in designing, funding, and expanding this architecture of harm — to now express outrage at the consequences of their own policies".

In 2024–25, nearly $500 million in taxpayer funding was allocated to mostly for-profit residential care providers in Queensland, according to the Courier Mail.

The government has already announced an inquiry into Queensland's child protection system after a review uncovered widespread abuse and neglect. That inquiry, led by Paul Anastassiou KC, begins this week in Brisbane and will deliver its final report by November 2026.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are significantly over-represented in the system. According to 2024 Productivity Commission data, 49.2 per cent of all children aged 0–17 in Queensland's child protection system are Indigenous. Indigenous children are placed in out-of-home care at 9.3 times the rate of non-Indigenous children.

Multiple reports have also raised concerns about the sexual exploitation of children in residential care facilities.

Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive Katherine Hayes told AAP a major system overhaul is needed to improve the lives of vulnerable children facing the "most awful circumstances". She told the story of a 16-year-old girl who had been homeless for close to half of the four years she had been under the care of Child Safety.

"She came to our office recently in a suicidal state, and then she was (admitted to a hospital for) two nights and then on the third day, Child Safety rang us and asked us to drop her back under the bridge where she was living," Ms Hayes said.

"That's abhorrent that a rich state like Queensland can't do better than that."

In May, SNAICC – National Voice for our Children CEO Catherine Liddle said the inquiry must examine the root causes of over-representation and prioritise the safety of Indigenous children.

"We know when our children encounter the system in Queensland, they are more likely to be subjected to serious harm," she said.

"Any inquiry into the child protection system must consider their safety, first and foremost – not cutting costs."

That same month, more than 100 prominent First Nations leaders, including Professor Marcia Langton and former Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda, accused the Queensland government of deliberately harming Indigenous families.

In a statement, they condemned "the ongoing violation of human and cultural rights," and "the targeted harm perpetuated against our children and young people".

They backed SNAICC's call for a culturally responsive inquiry process and demanded "local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples participate directly through the entire duration of the inquiry".

"We hold solutions," the statement said.