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Children in out-of-home care: What drives the increase in admissions and how to make a change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Patricia Hansen  and
Frank Ainsworth
Patricia Hansen
Affiliation:
Head of School, School of Social Work, Australian Catholic University, Strathfield Campus, Sydney NSW 2135, Email: [email protected]
Frank Ainsworth
Affiliation:
Senior Principal Research Fellow (Adjunct), School of Social Work and Community Welfare, James Cook University, Townsville Campus, Qld 4811, Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

In Australia the number of children removed from birth parents and admitted to State care, i.e. foster care, kinship care, other home-based care, group homes or residential care, continues to rise. Because the number of foster carers (the preferred care option after kinship care) has fallen and the recruitment of new carers has become more difficult, this rise in admissions to care is a critical issue. This paper explores those factors that drive the increase in the number of children that are taken into State care and makes suggestions about how this trend might be reversed. New South Wales is used as the example for this purpose although the points made are applicable in other States and Territories.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , 2008 , pp. 13 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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