Page 3909 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 29 November 2022
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Data from the snapshot report shows that placement types within out of home care continue to remain relatively stable, with most children and young people being in kinship care placements as of 30 June 2022. We continue to support children, young people, and their families through prevention services, with a renewed focus on supporting families with complex needs to prevent entry and/or re-entry to care.
In 2021-22 there were 97 episodes of service commenced for children and young people, following families providing consent to work with Uniting’s preservation services. Of these, 19 were with families who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. It is notable that there has been no increase in the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families who have been supported by this service between December 2021 and June 2022. It also appears that the benefits of this service continue to be slightly lower for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children as a proportion compared to the overall population of service recipients. However, for the 242 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people who have received Uniting’s preservation services since 2015-16, 89 per cent had not entered out of home care three months after commencement of the service; 63 per cent had not entered out of home care 24 months after commencement of the service.
In the 2021-22 financial year, 35 children and young people who were in out of home care received a finalised Enduring Parental Responsibility or Adoption Order, a significant increase compared with the 20 in 2020-21 and 16 in 2019-20. As of 30 June 2022, there are 137 children and young people with a permanency order.
With the release of Next Steps in June, we will continue regular reporting on child protection data as part of my strong commitment to building greater trust and transparency, which is a domain of Next Steps. As the strategy matures, we will continue to build capacity to capture robust data to inform these updates. This ongoing refinement of data is pivotal to supporting a responsive and agile service system and work to address the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people and improve outcomes for all children and young people in out of home care. Thank you for the opportunity to share this update
with you.
I table the following papers:
A Step Up for Our Kids—Snapshot Report—1 July 2017 to 30 June 2022.
Our Booris, Our Way—Review—
Six monthly update (January to June 2022).
Government response and A Step Up for Our Kids Out of Home Care Strategy, Ministerial Statement, 29 November 2022.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the ministerial statement.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
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