Youth Services: Out of home care

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:

• “Residential care: placement is in a residential building where the purpose is to provide placements for children and there are paid staff.
• Family group homes: homes for children provided by a department or community-sector agency that have live-in, non-salaried carers who are reimbursed and/or subsidised for the provision of care.
• Home-based care: placement is in the home of a carer who is reimbursed for expenses for the care of the child. There are four categories of home-based care: relative or kinship care; foster care; third-party parental care arrangements; and other home-based, out-of-home care.
• Independent living: includes private board and lead tenant households.
• Other: placements that do not fit into the above categories and unknown placement types. This may include boarding schools, hospitals, hotels/motels and the defence forces.”

(Australian Institute of Family Studies 2018)

Reference:

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