The New South Wales government is calling for reforms for its $2 billion out-of-home care (OOHC) system, which was found lacking in accountability while failing to meet the needs of children and young people at an efficient cost.
Commissioned by Minister for Families and Communities Kate Washington, the “System review into out-of-home care” report said that the current OOHC created by the previous coalition government is “not fit for purpose,” “slow to respond in the best interests of children and young people,” and “largely devoid of robust evidence-based practices.”
Its authors noted that they faced challenges tracing taxpayer funds if they were being used to meaningfully support vulnerable children and young people.
The report recommends establishing an agreement between the secretaries of the relevant government agencies to boost collaboration and service coordination, and divert investment to early intervention and family preservation.
It also recommended ceasing the practice of outsourcing case management to non-government providers before the Children’s Court releases its final court orders.
Moreover, the report suggested ensuring all OOHC placement types are evidence-informed to reduce the reliance on high-cost emergency arrangements, which can cost upwards of $2 million per year for every child and taxpayer, more than $38,000 a week.
“It’s shocking that some out-of-home care providers are failing to provide basic support to children, despite being paid hundreds of thousands, and in some cases, millions, of taxpayer dollars to do so,” said Washington.
“As a government, we are committed to ensuring every dollar invested in the child protection system goes to the vulnerable children who need it.”
In September, the government said it would ban the use of unaccredited emergency accommodation for vulnerable children in the foster care system by March 2025.
The government also said it was already working on finding safe homes for 849 children, starting with the recruitment of more than 200 emergency foster carers and signing an agreement to raise caseworker pay to attract and retain more staff.
The Public Service Association (PSA) welcomed the recommendations, noting that for-profit providers have abused the system intended to protect vulnerable children to make more money.
“Kids deserve to be in family-like environments, like with foster parents, not placed with for-profit entities which spend their whole time trying to wring as much cash as they can out of each child,” said Stewart Little, PSA general secretary.
“Care of children removed from their parents should never have been outsourced by the former liberal government; it was always a bad idea, and nowt that has been proved.”
