Out of home care is when children are unable to live with their primary caregiver so children aged 0-18 are placed with an alternative caregiver and that process is overseen by the state government. The child is placed with alternative caregivers who are approved by the state to give care to children on a short or long term basis.
Out of home care is a last resort for state government and the preferred option is to reunify children with family members with continued support in the home to make the arrangement possible.
“Out-of-home care can be arranged either informally or formally. Informal care refers to arrangements made without intervention by statutory authorities or courts, and formal care follows a child protection intervention (either by voluntary agreement or a care and protection court order), most commonly due to cases of abuse, neglect or family violence” (Australian Institute of Family Studies 2018).
These are the main types of care that children in out of home care can receive:
(Australian Institute of Family Studies 2018)
Reference:
See the below site for reference: