IPART published its interim report in September 2024. In doing so, IPART made 15 preliminary findings and sought further feedback from the out-of-home care (OOHC) sector on four questions.

The main purpose of releasing the interim report was to stimulate further feedback about the main themes emerging from the evidence IPART has collected so far including via stakeholder consultations, submissions, topic-based papers and data from OOHC agencies and the department.

ACWA wishes to acknowledge IPART’s level of engagement with the NGO sector during the review, and the efforts of the IPART team to ensure that they visited a number of our members to see firsthand the valuable work they do. We are also very pleased to see how strongly carers have engaged in the review, and that the next stage of IPART’s work will explore carer experiences more deeply.

ACWA is also heartened to see that the interim report reflects the evidence given by our member agencies about the cost pressures they’re facing; the long-term inefficiencies in the system they’ve had to contend with; the need for a more flexible and responsive approach to assessing, approving and funding care packages for children; and the need to substantially improve the incentives for retaining our carers and attracting new carers into the system.

This submission provides IPART with a collective response from ACWA’s member agencies to the four questions posed based on individual responses we received from members. It is also intended to provide IPART with additional insights relevant to its preliminary findings, and identifies further areas of examination for the review.