The Office of the Children’s Guardian has issued the following notification regarding procedures to be followed by out-of-home care providers when a child or young person is placed in a non-home based emergency care arrangement:
Your notifications can help reduce the number of children in non-home based emergency care arrangements.
In an emergency or crisis, sometimes children and young people in the statutory out-of-home care system are cared for in short-term, non-home based care arrangements such as motels.
These care arrangements are generally used when there are no available care options with accredited foster care or residential care providers.
ACWA is working closely with non-government out-of-home care providers, Family and Community Services, AbSec and the Office of the Children’s Guardian to reduce the number of children and young people in these arrangements.
To assist in better identifying and managing systemic issues that drive the use of such alternative care arrangements, all designated agencies are required to perform the following actions:
- Notify the Office of the Children’s Guardian when a child or young person is placed in a non-home based emergency care arrangement. Please note that this notification must be made within 24 hours of the placement commencing.
- Develop a plan to transition a child or young person from the emergency care arrangement to a permanent care arrangement. This plan is to be submitted to the OCG within 7 days of placement.
- Notify the Office of the Children’s Guardian when the placement has ceased.
For more information about how to make a notification, please visit the Office of the Children’s Guardian’s website.