Page 4302 - Week 12 - Thursday, 24 October 2019
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commencing has also improved. At the end of 2018-19, of the 19 children and young people being supported, 14 did not enter care within 12 months of support commencing. This compared to eight out of 19 children and young people at the end of 2017-18. Again, we are talking about small numbers over a 12-month period, so it is appropriate to be cautious, but we will continue to monitor this data carefully. Prevention services were introduced by this strategy and mirror the intent to keep children and young people with their families.
Since the introduction of A step up, we have established new supports for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families aimed at reducing the number of children entering care, which I will discuss further shortly. The majority of children and young people in out of home care continue to be children and young people on long-term orders. The data on placement type identifies that more than half of all children and young people in care are currently placed with kinship carers.
The majority of children and young people in residential care, 89 per cent, are aged 12 or above. A key priority for ACT Together and child and youth protection services is to continue to work together to reduce the number of children and young people in residential care.
A total of 15 enduring parental responsibility orders and adoptions from out of home care were completed in 2018-19, compared with 11 in 2017-18. The number of children and young people with permanency placements was 102 as at 30 June 2019, of which 48 children and young people were in foster care and 54 were in kinship care.
As at 30 June 2019, 191 children and young people had a cultural plan in place. This is 91 per cent of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in care. Child and youth protection services remains committed to undertaking quarterly reviews to address compliance with this important feature of the system and to ensure that quality cultural plans are in place. The Our Booris, Our Way Steering Committee has emphasised the importance of quality plans.
In 2018-19, a total of 83 new carers were approved. During this same period, 122 carers had their approved carer status renewed, which is an increase of 22 compared to the previous year. The increase and retention of carers demonstrates a commitment by child and youth protection services and ACT Together to supporting carers, who are so central to the out of home care system.
Madam Speaker, the highlights from the snapshot report show that the rate at which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people are entering care has slowed. However, I remain acutely aware of the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the out of home care system and remain committed to driving change in this area.
As members are aware, I welcomed the release of the interim report by the Our Booris, Our Way Steering Committee on 31 August 2018 and the recommendations received in December 2018 and May 2019. To date, 14 recommendations have been made by the steering committee and we will receive its final report towards the end of this year.
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