What is out-of-home care?
Out-of-home care refers to the care of children and young people up to 18 years who are unable to live with their families (often due to child abu and neglect). It involves the placement of a child or young person with alternate caregivers on a short- or long-term basis (Victorian Department of Human Services, 2007). Out-of-home care can be arranged either formally or informally. Informal care refers to arrangements made without intervention by statutory authorities or courts, and formal care occurs following a child protection intervention (either by voluntary agreement or a care and protection court order). This paper will describe tho children in out-of-home care in Australia who are on care and protection orders.
Types of out-of-home care
▪ Residential care: placement is in a residential building who purpo is to provide placements for children and where there are paid staff.
▪ Family group homes: homes for children provided by a department or community-ctor agency, which have live-in, non-salaried carers who are reimburd and/or subsidid for the provision of care.
▪ Home-bad care: placement is in the home of a carer who is reimburd for expens for the care of the child. There are three categories of home-bad care: relative or kinship care, foster care and other home-bad out-of-home care.
▪ Independent living: includes private board and lead tenant houholds.
▪ Other: placements that do not fit into the above categories and unknown placement types. This may include boarding schools, hospital, hotels/motels and the defence forces.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 2015, p. 46.
The National Framework for Protecting Australia's Children 2009-2020(link is external) (Council of Australian Governments [COAG], 2009) noted that out-of-home care is a last resort for keeping children safe. Supporting children within their family is the pref
erred option. Where the home environment is not safe enough for children and they have to be placed in out-of-home care, the focus is on providing children with safety, stability and a n of curity. Importantly, the Framework noted that while the need for carers to provide quality out-of-home care for children is rising, the availability of such carers appears to be decreasing.
How many children live in out-of-home care in Australia?
The most recent statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW, 2015) show that, as of 30 June 2014, there were 43,009 Australian children living in out-of-home care. This has incread from 7.7/1,000 children at 30 June 2013 to 8.1/1,000 children at 30 June 2014. cayTable 1 shows the number of children in Australia admitted to out-of-home care, by age group, in each state and territory during 2013-14.
Table 1: Children admitted to out-of-home care by age group, states and territories, during 2013-14 |
Age (years) | NSW | Vic. | Qld | WA | 深圳商务英语培训SA | Tas. | ACT | NT | Total |
Number |
<1 | 674 | 520 | 426 | huddle 235 | 102 | as one37 | 39 | 63 | 2,096 |
1-4 | 875 | 822 | 542 | 283 | 93 | 60 | 47 | 106 | 2,828 |
5-9 | 816 | 761 | 515 | 261 | 113 | 60 | 46 | 82 | 2,654 |
10-14 | 646 | 718 | 505 | 234 | 92 | 34 | 49 | 107 | 2,385 |
15-17 | 237 | 389 | 278 | 87 | 45 | 17 | 33 | 35 | 1,121 |
Unknown | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Total | 3,248 | 3,210 | 2,266 | 1,100 | 445 | 208 | 214 | 394 | 11,085 |
Percentage |
<1 | 20.8 | 16.2 | 18.8 | 21.4 | 22.9 | 17.8 | 18.2 | 16.0 | 18.9 |
1-4 | 26.9 | 25.6 | 23.9 | 25.7 | 20.9 | 28.8 | 22.0 | 27.0 | contracting25.5 |
5-9 | 25.1 | 23.7 | 22.7 | 23.7 | 25.4 | 28.8 | 21.5 | 20.9 | 23.9 |
10-14 | 19.9 | 22.4 | 22.3 | 21.3 | 20.7 | 16.3 | 22.9 | 27.2 | 21.5 |
| 帰る场所 15-17 | 7.3 | 12.1 | 12.3 | 7.9 | 10.1 | 8.2 | 15.4 | 8.9 | 10.1 |
Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| | | | | | | | | |
Notes: The table includes all children admitted to out-of-home care for the first time, as well as tho children returning to care who had exited care 60 days or more previously. Children admitted to out-of-home care more than once during the year were only counted at the first admission. Percentages exclude children of unknown age. Percentages in tables may not add to exactly100.0 due to rounding.
Source: AIHW, 2015, Table A26, p. 95.
The number of children in out-of-home care has rin every year over the past 10 years (AIHW, 2015). As en inTable 2, the number of children in out-of-home care incread by 20% from 30 June 2010 to 30 June 2014. This increa may reflect the cumulative impact of children being admitted to, and remaining in, out-of-home-care.
Table 2: Trends in children aged 0-17 years in out-of-home care, states and territories, 30 June 2010 to 30 June 2014 |
Year | NSW | Vic. | QLD | WA a | SA b | Tas. | ACT | NT | Total |
Number |
2010 | 16,175 | 5,469 | 7,350 arnage | 2,737 | 2,188 | 893 | 532 | 551 | 35,895 |
2011 | 16,740 | 5,678 | 7,602 | 3,120 | 2,368 | 966 | 540 | 634 | 37,648 |
2012 | 17,192 | 6,207 | 7,999 | 3,400 | 2,548 | 1,009 | 566 | 700 | 39,621 |
2013 | 17,422 | 6,542 | 8,136 | 3,425日语好学么 | 2,657 | 1,067 | 558 | 742 | 40,549 |
四级图片2014 | 18,192 | 7,710 | 8,185 | 3,723 | 2,631 | 1,054 | 606 | 908 | 43,009 |
Number per 1,000 children |
2010 | 9.9 | 4.5 | 6.9 | 5.1 | 6.2 | 7.6 | 6.7 | 8.8 | 7.1 |
2011 | 10.2 | 4.6 | 7.1 | 5.7 | 6.7 | 8.3 | 6.7 | 10.2 | turn off7.4 |
2012 | 10.4 | 5.0 | 7.3 | 6.1 | 7.2 | 8.7 | 6.9 | 11.1 | 7.7 |
2013 | 10.4 | 5.2 | 7.4 | 5.9 | 7.4 | 9.3 | 6.7 | 11.6 | 7.7 |
2014 | 10.8 | 6.0 | 7.3 | 6.3 | 7.3 | 9.2 | 7.1 | 14.3 | 8.1 |
| | | | | | | | | |
Notes: Some rates may not match tho published in previous publications of Child Protection Australia due to retrospective updates. Rates were calculated using revid population estimates bad on the 2011 Census and should not be compared with rates calculated using populations or projections bad on previous census data, including tho published in previous editions of Child Protection Australia. Refer to tables A47 and S2 for the populations ud in the calculation of rates.
a Data for 20090-10 for Western Australia are not comparable with other years due to the introduction of a new client information system in March 2010. Proxy data were provided for that year.
b South Australia could only provide the number of children in out-of-home care where the Department of Families and Communities is making a financial contribution to the care of a child.
Source: AIHW, 2015, Table 5.6, p. 54.
What are the living arrangements of children in out-of-home care?
The AIHW statistics show that 93% of all children living in out-of-home care in Australia are in home-bad care. Of that figure, 41% are in foster care, 48.5% are in relative/kinship care and 3.9% are in other forms of home-bad care. A further 6% of children were placed in alternative living arrangements (e Table 3) (AIHW, 2015). At 30 June 2014, the vast majority of children living in out-of-home-care had been in care for more than one year. Twelve per cent of children had been in out-of-home-care for between 1-2 years, 28% had been in care for between 2-5 years, and 41% had been in out-of-home-care for more than 5 years.
