Out of Home Care in Victoria

Out of Home Care (OoHC) refers to the provision of care and accommodation for children and young people who are unable to live with their birth families due to circumstances such as abuse, neglect, family breakdown, or other issues compromising their safety or well-being. In Victoria, OoHC encompasses a range of care options, including foster care, kinship care, residential care, and supported accommodation. These arrangements aim to provide children and young people with stable and supportive living environments while addressing their emotional, physical, and developmental needs1. Efforts are focused on maintaining the stability of their placement and/or reuniting the child and their family if appropriate.

Definition

In 2019 a nationally consistent definition for OoHC was implemented.

“Out-of-home care is overnight care for children aged under 18 who are unable to live with their families due to child safety concerns. This includes placements approved by the department responsible for child protection for which there is ongoing case management and financial payment (including where a financial payment has been offered but declined by the carer). Out-of-home care also includes legal (court‑ordered) and voluntary placements, as well as placements made to provide respite for parents and/or carers.”

OoHC excludes:

  • placements for children on third-party parental responsibility orders (where legal responsibility for a young person is given to a nominated individual approved by the courts)
  • placements for children on immigration orders
  • supported placements for children aged 18 or over
  • pre-adoptive placements and placements for children whose adoptive parents receive ongoing funding due to the support needs of the child
  • placements into which a child enters and exits on the same day
  • placements solely funded by disability services, psychiatric services, specialist homelessness services, juvenile justice facilities, or overnight child-care services
  • cases in which a child self-places without approval by the department

Definition taken from the Australian Institute of Health, 20212.

Entry into Out of Home Care

Children and young people enter OoHC in Victoria through two main pathways: removal from their family home by Child Protection following an investigation, or voluntary placement by parents seeking support from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) or community service organisations3.

E-module: The Out of Home Care system in Victoria

This module provides an overview of the OoHC system in Victoria. It includes information about the nature of the care system, demographics of care leavers, a brief history of the care system, including an insight into the experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families in the care system; how the Victorian care system works; and the process and challenges associated with leaving the care system.

* You will need to register with The Centre’s Learning Management System to complete the course

Statistical information

  • As of June 30, 2022, in Victoria there were 9,124 children in OoHC, which is a rate of 6.4 per 1,000 children.
  • Most children in OoHC are in home-based care, which includes foster care and kinship care (94.2%).
  • The remaining 5.8% of children live in residential care, family group homes or independent living.
  • There are a high number of children with a disability in care, 1,355 or 14.9 percent2.

Types of care

National standards of Out of Home Care in Victoria

In Victoria, the provision of OoHC is guided by the National Standards of OoHC4 which were developed collaboratively by the Australian Government, states and territories to ensure consistency and quality in the provision of care for children and young people across Australia.

The National Standards for OoHC include:  

However not all these standards are easily met within the OoHC sector currently, this is in part due to funding issues, different ways of working across agencies and limitations in collaborative work across sectors including, education, health, and the care sector. This knowledge hub aims to help reduce some of these barriers.

References

  1. Department of Families, Fairness and Housing. About out-of-home care [Internet]. Victorian Government; 2022 [cited 2024 Mar 12]. Available from: https://www.vic.gov.au/about-out-home-care
  2. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Child protection Australia 2021–22 [Internet]. Canberra (AU):Australian Institute of Health and Welfare; 2023 [cited 2024 Mar. 12]. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/child-protection/child-protection-australia-2021-22
  3. Department of Families, Fairness and Housing Services. Child Protection [Internet]. Victorian Government (VIC); 2022 [cited 2024 Mar 12]. Available from: https://services.dffh.vic.gov.au/child-protection
  4. Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. An outline of National Standards for out-of-home care [Internet]. Canberra (AU):  Australian Government, 2022 [cited 2024 April 15]. Available from: https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/pac_national_standard.pdf

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