Out of Home Care Report

The Senate Community Affairs References Committee Out of home care August 2015 Commonwealth of Australia 2015 ISBN 978-1-76010-264-7 Secretariat Ms Jeanette Radcliffe (Committee Secretary) Dr Josh Forkert (Senior Research Officer) Ms Michelle Kurrle (Senior Research Officer) Mr Tasman Larnach (Senior Research Officer) Ms Aleshia Westgate (Senior Research Officer) Ms Megan Jones (Research Officer) Ms Carol Stewart (Administrative Officer) PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Phone: 02 6277 3515 Fax: 02 6277 5829 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca This document was produced by the Senate Community Affairs Committee Secretariat and printed by the Senate Printing Unit, Parliament House, Canberra. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License. The details of this licence are available on the Creative Commons website: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/ ii MEMBERSHIP OF THE COMMITTEE 44th Parliament Members Senator Rachel Siewert, Chair Western Australia, AG Senator Zed Seselja, Deputy Chair Australian Capital Territory, LP Senator Catryna Bilyk Tasmania, ALP Senator Carol Brown Tasmania, ALP Senator Joanna Lindgren (from 15 June 2015) Queensland, LP Senator Nova Peris OAM Northern Territory, ALP Senator Linda Reynolds (to 15 June 2015) Western Australia, LP Substitute members Senator Sue Lines Western Australia, ALP for Senator Carol Brown (from 17 April 2015 to 17 April 2015) Participating members for this inquiry Senator Claire Moore Queensland, ALP Senator Dean Smith Western Australia, LP iii iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Membership of the Committee ........................................................................ iii Tables and Figures ............................................................................................. ix Abbreviations .................................................................................................. xiii List of Recommendations .............................................................................. xvii Chapter 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Establishment of the inquiry ................................................................................... 1 The committee's areas of interest ........................................................................... 2 Structure of report ................................................................................................... 2 Conduct of the inquiry ............................................................................................ 3 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 4 Key concepts .......................................................................................................... 4 Key out-of-home care trends and statistics ............................................................ 6 Chapter 2 Out-of-home care frameworks .............................................................................. 19 Current out-of-home care framework ................................................................... 19 State and territory frameworks ............................................................................. 30 Commonwealth framework .................................................................................. 38 Chapter 3 Drivers for out-of-home care trends ..................................................................... 57 Reasons children enter out-of-home care ............................................................. 57 Children remaining longer in care ........................................................................ 60 Social disadvantage .............................................................................................. 63 Systemic factors .................................................................................................... 74 Chapter 4 Outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care .......................... 79 Safety and stability ............................................................................................... 80 Participation in decision making and planning .................................................... 89 Access to health and education............................................................................. 96 Connection with family ...................................................................................... 100 Transition from care ........................................................................................... 103 Chapter 5 Support for families .............................................................................................. 117 Building safe and resilient families .................................................................... 118 Support for families with children in care .......................................................... 138 Chapter 6 Out-of-home care models and supports ............................................................. 161 Types of care ...................................................................................................... 161 Relative/kinship care .......................................................................................... 164 Foster care........................................................................................................... 174 Residential care .................................................................................................. 180 Cross-jurisdictional issues .................................................................................. 184 Chapter 7 Permanent models of care .................................................................................... 201 Permanent care options ....................................................................................... 201 Chapter 8 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities ......................................... 219 Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families ................................ 219 Empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities ..................... 243 vi Chapter 9 Specific needs of particular groups ..................................................................... 255 Families and children with disability and complex health issues ...................... 255 Children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds ...................... 271 Chapter 10 Conclusion and recommendations ...................................................................... 275 National Framework for Protecting Australia's Children 2009–2020 ................ 276 Support for children ............................................................................................ 278 Support for families ............................................................................................ 284 Support for carers ............................................................................................... 289 Additional Comments—Coalition Senators ................................................. 293 Appendix 1 Submissions and additional information received by the Committee ............. 299 Appendix 2 Public hearings ...................................................................................................... 317 vii viii TABLES AND FIGURES Chapter 1.............................................................................................................. 1 Box 1.1 – Types of statutory out-of-home care ...................................................... 5 Figure 1.1 – Number of children in out-of-home care, 2004–05 to 2013–14 ........ 7 Figure 1.2 – Rate of children in out-of-home care per 1000 children aged 0-17 years in the population across jurisdictions at 30 June 2014 ......................... 8 Figure 1.3 – Number of children in out-of-home care by placement type, 2004–05 to 2013–14 ............................................................................................... 9 Figure 1.4 – Proportion of children in main types of care across jurisdictions, 30 June 2013 ......................................................................................................... 10 Figure 1.5 – Proportion of children in out-of-home care at 30 June per 1000 children aged 0–17 in the population by Indigenous status, 2004–05 to 2013–14 ................................................................................................................ 11 Figure 1.6 – Rate of children in out-of-home care by Indigenous status across jurisdictions, per 1000 children in the population, 30 June 2014 ........................ 12 Figure 1.7 – Proportion of children in out-of-home care by Indigenous status and jurisdiction, 30 June 2014 .................................................................... 13 Box 1.2 – Aboriginal Child Placement Principle ................................................. 14 Figure 1.8 – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children placed in accordance with the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle by type of care, 30 June 2014 ......................................................................................................... 14 Figure 1.9 – Real expenditure on out-of-home care services, 2004–05 to 2013–14 ................................................................................................................ 16 Figure 1.10 – Real

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