The Minns Labor Government has ended unaccredited emergency accommodation for vulnerable children in out-of-home care (OOHC), marking a significant milestone in ongoing efforts to fix the state’s child protection system.
This week, the last child living in an Alternative Care Arrangement (ACA) was transitioned to more appropriate, supportive accommodation with an accredited provider. For the first time in 20 years, there are no children living in unaccredited emergency accommodation tonight.
This reform comes after heartbreaking firsthand accounts and numerous reports highlighted the terrible outcomes for children living in ACAs. In one report, a child likened their experience to ‘a dog being moved from cage to cage’.
In response, the Minister for Families and Communities, Kate Washington, established a specialist team within the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) to deliver one of the most significant reform efforts in the foster care system in years—eliminating ACAs forever.
Now a thing of the past, ACAs:
- often involved children being placed in hotels, motels and caravan parks with rotating shift workers instead of foster carers
- could cost upwards of $2 million per child each year or $38,000 per week
- were the placement option of last resort
- were provided by unaccredited agencies who were not required to meet the NSW Child Safe Standards for Permanent Care.
Ending ACAs required the tireless work of DCJ staff and frontline caseworkers. In November 2023, 139 children were living in ACAs. Since then, every child has been moved into a safer and more stable placement. Some have been safely restored to their parents, some have been placed with foster carers, some are now living in intensive therapeutic care homes or other accredited emergency arrangements, and some have transitioned to specialist disability accommodation.
A cornerstone of the Minns Labor Government’s landmark reform has been recruiting emergency foster carers. As a result, over 1000 children have been placed in homes instead of hotels.
For more than a decade, foster carer recruitment was abandoned under the previous Liberal-National government, creating a crisis where thousands of children were placed in high-cost emergency arrangements (HCEAs) due to a dire shortage of foster carers.
The Minns Labor Government has tackled that failure head-on, delivering real reform and a system that better protects vulnerable children.
Since coming into government, we have also:
- reduced the number of children placed in all types of HCEAs by 35 per cent since November 2023
- stood up Waratah Care Cottages to better support children and sibling groups who are currently stuck in HCEAs
- delivered the largest caseworker pay increases in more than a decade
- redeployed our best and brightest casework specialists to the frontline, already supporting 300 additional vulnerable children
- released a system review and comprehensive roadmap for reform.
Despite significant progress, hundreds of children remain in emergency accommodation simply because there aren’t enough carers to meet the demand.
While work is underway to fix the child protection system we inherited, the government needs the community’s help to get there.
For more information about becoming a foster carer, visit DCJ’s foster care website.
Minister for Families and Communities, Kate Washington said:
“When we came into government, more and more children were being placed in high cost emergency arrangements like hotels and motels. It was the worst symptom of our broken child protection system, and vulnerable children were paying the price.
“After hearing heartbreaking stories from children who had been placed in hotels and motels, I knew we had to act.
“Ending ACAs has only been possible because of the tireless efforts of our dedicated staff and the incredible people in the community who have stepped up to become emergency foster carers.
“Every single foster carer in NSW changes the trajectory of a young person’s life, and we desperately need more.
“This is a huge step forward, but we know there’s still so much more to do. We’re continuing the hard work of reforming the child protection system so that every child can feel safe and loved.”
Secretary of the Department of Communities and Justice Michael Tidball said:
“The safety and wellbeing of children and families is our highest priority.
“Ending the use of ACAs represents a significant milestone in our comprehensive plan for reform across the child safety and wellbeing system in NSW.
“It is a crucial step in our vision to support families to stay together wherever possible and, when not, ensure safe, stable, and nurturing homes for children.”
Advocate for Children and Young People, Zoe Robinson said:
“I welcome this news as a massive positive step forward. We always do better when we listen to children and young people and take what they tell us seriously.
“Children and young people who participated in the Special Inquiry made it clear that ACAs were not safe. They were not like a home, and they were not with appropriate carers, they were with shift workers.
“This demonstrates a huge effort across the NSW Government, DCJ and the sector to provide better, more appropriate care for children and young people.”
Emergency and respite foster carer, Hayley Van Duijn said:
“It is great to hear that there has been an increase in emergency foster carers, as ACAs have detrimental effects on children who have already endured so much trauma.
“It has been an incredibly rewarding experience for our family to provide emergency care for foster children.
“I’d encourage more families to consider opening up their homes to these beautiful vulnerable children.”
