The commission's report recorded 452 child deaths overall in Queensland during the 2025–26 financial year. Of those, 91 were known to the child safety system, representing a 59.6 per cent increase from the previous year's 57 deaths.
Natural causes accounted for 312 deaths, while 94 were attributed to external causes such as transport incidents or non-intentional injuries. The child death register highlighted ongoing risks from quad bikes in rural communities and identified a concerning pattern of deaths involving severe nutritional deficiencies associated with highly restricted diets.
Analysis by the child death prevention team found that, in several cases, children had a diet "almost exclusively of cow's milk". The report referred these findings to the State Coroner and Queensland Health for further investigation and prevention work. The ABC reported in August that excessive cow's milk consumption had contributed to the deaths of three Queensland toddlers over the past two years.
The commission recommended improvements to coronial data collection, including recording the school a deceased child attended to better identify systemic issues and patterns. The report noted: "This recommendation remained under consideration by the State Coroner at the end of the reporting period."
Preliminary data also indicated 102 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child deaths, though the report's full breakdown was not available at time of publication. The Commission of Inquiry into Child Safety previously made 52 recommendations to address what it called serious failures in the system.