THE NSW 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 $2M 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 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 Government has tackled that failure head-on, delivering real reform and a system that better protects vulnerable children. 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.