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Table of contents
1.
2.
Minister’s foreword ............................................................................................ 5
Executive summary........................................................................................... 8
Drivers for reform
A new vision for reform
Approach to reform
3.
3.1
3.2
4.
4.1
4.2
5.
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
6.
6.1
7.
8.
8.1
8.2
9.
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
9.5
9.6
9.7
9.8
9.9
9.10
9.11
9.12
8
10
11
Development of this plan................................................................................. 14
Sector consultation
The views of children and young people
14
15
Victoria’s out-of-home care system ................................................................. 18
A history of reform
The current system
18
20
The case for reform......................................................................................... 24
Identified challenges
‘Performance’ of the system
The balance of investment
System integration
24
25
26
28
A new vision for reform ................................................................................... 29
Reform strategy
29
Approach to reform ......................................................................................... 33
Longer-term reform deliverables ..................................................................... 36
A new funding model
A new service delivery platform
36
37
Immediate reform actions................................................................................ 38
Improve the safety and wellbeing of children and young people in residential care
38
Tender the delivery of therapeutic, outcomes-focused, care and support services
39
Implement an outcomes monitoring framework
40
Develop a complementary plan for Aboriginal children and young people
43
New governance arrangements
45
Improving processes and reducing the administrative burden ....................................... 46
Improving health and education outcomes .................................................................... 46
Establishing local networks ............................................................................................ 47
Increase focus on stability and permanency
48
Explore professionalised in-home support
49
Provide additional support to reduce sexual exploitation
49
Improve leaving care support
50
Trial a new approach to kinship care
52
Better engage foster carers
52
Improving carer recruitment ........................................................................................... 53
Respecting and listening to foster carers ....................................................................... 53
New approaches to commissioning
53
10.
Next steps ....................................................................................................... 54
11.
References ..................................................................................................... 55
Appendix A – Statement of principles ............................................................................. 56
Appendix B – Outcomes framework ................................................................................ 57
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1. Minister’s foreword
Government, service providers and the community have a
responsibility to do all we can to make sure the care vulnerable
children and young people receive sets them on the path to a good
life. Currently across Victoria, more than 6,400 children and young
people are living in out-of-home care. They are being looked after
by thousands of foster, kinship, permanent and residential carers –
and many other support staff – who work tirelessly to make sure
that these children and young people live happy, safe and
rewarding lives.
Effectively caring for and improving the life outcomes of our most
vulnerable and disadvantaged children and young people is an
enormous challenge. At the heart of the challenge lies the fact that
no government-funded or delivered system can ever truly replace a good parent in a child’s life.
This reality must drive our efforts to ensure we do a better job in supporting families to provide
safe, stable, nurturing homes for all children and young people. Where families fail in looking after
children, safety, stability and nurturing must be provided through our alternative care
arrangements.
Every year, the number of young Victorians who need out-of-home care is growing, and both
government and the community are under increasing pressure to deliver the financial and human
resources required to keep pace. Despite the good outcomes achieved for many children, multiple
reports and inquiries here, inter-state and overseas have catalogued the challenges facing out-ofhome care systems and warned the structure is under significant stress. The traumatic impact of
abuse and neglect on children and young people is significant. We know failure to provide stable,
supportive care can further magnify this impact.
This Government is responding to the range of challenges confronting the broad child protection
system. In May 2012, we published Victoria’s Vulnerable Children – Our Shared Responsibility
Directions Paper and allocated $336 million over four years from the 2012–13 Budget. That
funding, together with allocations made in the 2011–12 and 2013–14 Budgets has taken the
Victorian Government’s additional investment in vulnerable children and families to more than $650
million over the past three Budgets.
Through the complementary Victoria’s Vulnerable Children – Our Shared Responsibility
Strategy 2013–2022, released in May 2013, the Victorian Government has formally accepted a
shared responsibility for improving outcomes for vulnerable children. This is underpinned by our
commitment to work better across portfolios that have responsibility for the health, social and
economic determinants of vulnerability. In December 2013, the Government released a baseline
performance data report as an important first step to understanding the challenges faced by
vulnerable children and young people. This sets the baseline from which annual performance
reports will measure our progress in reducing vulnerability and improving the lives of the most
vulnerable Victorians.
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This plan is a statement of our intent to fundamentally reform the way the out-of-home care system
operates in order to drive better personal, social and economic outcomes for children and young
people in care. The proposed reforms align with our new model for integrated human service
delivery – Services Connect – that is driving a more integrated and holistic approach to working
with vulnerable Victorians.
It also reflects the importance of a collaborative approach to reform between government, service
providers, clients and other stakeholders – as recommended in the report Service Sector Reform:
A roadmap for community and human services reform.
Through these reforms we intend to move our historical program-based funding for out-of-home
care to a system that is more focused on the client and the outcomes we aspire to. To achieve this,
we need a system that more closely integrates family support, preservation and reunification
services with those that provide out-of-home care; a system that provides incentives for positive
outcomes and is delivered from a local area-based platform. We want to provide the flexibility that
is needed to encourage innovation in how best to meet the needs of children and young people in
care, their families and their carers.
We have consulted with service providers, the Commission for Children and Young People and
other stakeholders to define this plan and will continue this collaborative approach throughout
implementation. We recognise success depends on the support and input of service providers and
experts as well as children and young people themselves.
To begin this process, the Victorian Government will undertake a tender process during 2014 for
the delivery of a more holistic, flexible and therapeutic care and support service for children in outof-home care and their families. This new approach will focus on the outcomes sought – as
opposed to service types, inputs or outputs. It will seek to create a service response which focuses
on the overarching goal for each child and young person in a placement – whether this is
successful reunification with parents; placement in a stable, permanent care arrangement; or
transition to independence.
Other immediate priorities to strengthen our system are to:
 Realise legislative and practice reforms to help provide permanency and stability for children.
 Investigate opportunities to better support and grow our vital foster carer workforce.
 Increase the role of the non-government sector in assessing and supporting kinship care
arrangements.
 Establish a practical approach to monitoring the outcomes being achieved for children and
young people in care. Based on this information, a process for reporting on the wellbeing of
children and young people in the care of each service provider will also be established.
 Commence immediate actions to improve the safety and wellbeing of children and young
people in residential care.
 Develop a complementary plan for Aboriginal children and young people in out-of-home care.
 Explore innovative approaches to commissioning, targeted at preventing entry to care,
supporting transition from residential care and improving leaving care supports.
 Establish a more collaborative and effective approach to governance – and through this –
identify and act on opportunities for practical system improvements.
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The specification and implementation of change will take time, but it is enormously important. This
holistic approach to reform will benefit both children and the sector.
Importantly, the implementation of the plan will be supported by a funding package totalling $128
million over the next four years.
I look forward to working with service providers, carers and children and young people in care to
make this plan a reality.
The Hon. Mary Wooldridge MP
Minister for Community Services
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2. Executive summary
This plan articulates a reform strategy for out-of-home care that will deliver a more integrated,
client-centred and outcomes-focused service system. It builds on Victoria’s leadership in out-ofhome care and human services reform to present both immediate and longer-term actions to
achieve three overarching goals:
 Improved outcomes – improved personal, economic and social outcomes for children and
young people in out-of-home care.
 Reduced demand – slow the growth in the number of children and young people being placed
in out-of-home care over the long-term.
 Sustainable delivery – create the foundation for a more sustainable, efficient and effective outof-home care system.
Drivers for reform
The Victorian Government is committed to driving improvement across the delivery of human
services. The Government’s recent policy statement Services Connect: Better services for
Victorians in need demonstrates the need for a more integrated, holistic, effective, efficient and
sustainable human services system. Specifically, it highlights the need for more integrated service
delivery, a stronger focus on outcomes and supporting service provider innovation through a more
flexible approach to funding.
The evidence for these reform directions is clear in the Service Sector Reform: a roadmap for
community and human services reform. Recent reviews and reports also highlight the overall
structure of the statutory child protection and out-of-home system is under significant stress and
that the need for improvement and reform is pressing. Current challenges facing the system range
from rising demand to a fragmented system that is not designed to enable the innovation and
outcomes we aspire to achieve.
In January 2011, the Victorian Government initiated the Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable
Children Inquiry to investigate systemic problems of Victoria's child protection system. The final
report, tabled in Parliament in February 2012, found:
‘there are major and unacceptable shortcomings in the quality of care and outcomes for children
and young people placed, as a result of statutory intervention, in Victoria’s out-of-home care
system. Further, the Inquiry considers there are a number of long-term factors impacting on the
outcomes and sustainability of the current approach to providing accommodation and support
services to children in out-of-home care. Major reform of the policy framework, service provision
and funding arrangements for Victoria’s out-of-home care system is therefore urgently required.’1
Department of Premier and Cabinet 2012. Report of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry Department of
Premier and Cabinet, Melbourne, p.233.
1
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The Victorian Government is committed to reform of the out-of-home care system. In May 2012,
the Victorian Government published Victoria’s Vulnerable Children – Our Shared
Responsibility Directions Paper and announced a program of investment to support reform. That
funding, together with allocations made in the 2011–12 and 2013–14 Budgets has taken the
Victorian Government’s additional investment in vulnerable children and families to more than $650
million over the past three Budgets.
This out-of-home care plan is part of a broader suite of initiatives to improve outcomes for
vulnerable children. The Victoria’s Vulnerable Children – Our Shared Responsibility Strategy 2013–
2022 (Vulnerable Children’s Strategy), released in May 2013, includes three goals focused on
reducing child vulnerability. As of March 2014, 63 actions have been implemented and a further 40
are underway. This plan is a key mechanism to achieve goal three within the Vulnerable Children’s
Strategy.
Goals and achievements
Goal 1: Prevent abuse and neglect
Reforms and achievements include:

Additional 1,000 early childhood intervention service places each year to support children with a disability
or developmental delay from birth until school age.

A new Maternal and Child Health Memorandum of Understanding is now in place with the DEECD and
the Municipal Association of Victoria for 2012–2015.

Expanded the Enhanced Maternal and Child Health Service.

Reform of Student Support Services to help strengthen the early identification of children and young
people at risk.

New student online case system to support service delivery to vulnerable students.

Established national Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and their Children. 
Goal 2: Act earlier when children are vulnerable
Reforms and achievements include:


Children, Youth and Families Amendment Bill 2013 to make the court experience more child-friendly.
Provide more than 1,000 additional places over four years in voluntary Men's Behaviour Change
Programs.

Establish two new demonstration sites for the Adolescent Family Violence initiative.

New operating model for statutory child protection.

An additional 89 front-line child protection practitioners.

Victoria Police established Taskforce Astraea to tackle child exploitation on the internet.

Victoria Police has established 27 Family Violence Teams and 27 Sex Office and Child Abuse
Investigation Teams across the state.
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Goals and achievements
Goal 3: Improve outcomes for children in statutory care
Reforms and initiatives include:

Permanent Care and Stability Project – to increase rates of timeliness of permanent care arrangements.

Zero fee training places for young people leaving care.

Springboard program to assist young people leaving care to access education and employment.

Pilot to assist in implementing Aboriginal guardianship in Victoria.

Release of the five year plan for out-of-home care.

A more child-friendly legal system and a new children’s court in Broadmeadows; and state-wide roll-out of
new model conferences.

140 new therapeutic residential and foster care places.

Comprehensive educational and health assessments and learning mentors for children in out-of-home
care. 
The Victorian Government has also developed this plan in consultation with the sector and key
stakeholders to define a clear reform strategy for the next five years.
A new vision for reform
More fundamental reform is required to reset how out-of-home care is funded and delivered across
Victoria. Simply tweaking the current system by further increasing funding levels or establishing
new stand-alone programs will not lead to the sustainable, systemic improvement we aspire to
achieve.
This plan recognises that some reform will take time to be achieved and that we must balance our
effort between longer-term enablers and immediate opportunities to achieve the best results. The
reform strategy is summarised in Figure 1 below.
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Figure 1: Out-of-home care reform strategy
The reform strategy is informed by the multiple reviews and policy statements, including the Report
of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children’s Inquiry, which have shown there is a clear need to
further improve outcomes being achieved for children and young people in out-of-home care. It
also recognises there is a pressing need to ensure that the out-of-home care system and other
support services that children, young people and their families rely on are structured and function
as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Approach to reform
The journey that begins with the release of this plan will not be complete for several years – and is
in reality an ongoing process. The Victorian Government is committed to working collaboratively
with non-government organisations and other stakeholders to deliver on the whole-of-government
commitment to improving outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care, as
articulated in the Vulnerable Children’s Strategy and in this plan.
The reform process this plan signals will be a complex one. It is essential that it proceeds
cautiously – but not so cautiously that we unnecessarily delay the opportunity for significant reform.
Figure 2 summarises the process and timing for development and delivery of this reform plan.
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Figure 2: Out-of-home care reform approach
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Achieving the longer-term reform directions needed will require us to reconsider the types of
services government funds; the mix of these services; the funding models and mechanisms we
use; who is funded to deliver the services; and the spread of services across the state. The key
longer-term deliverables are:
 A new funding model that supports more innovative services and promotes a stronger focus on
the outcomes we achieve for children and young people.
 A process to establish a more integrated service delivery platform that better supports
placement prevention and reunification, and responds better to the needs of children and young
people in or exiting care.
These two deliverables combine to support achievement of the overarching objectives of this plan
to improve outcomes, reduce demand and enhance sustainability of the system. Importantly, they
will build placement capacity across the state by unlocking current resources and creating much
needed flexibility to support new approaches to how we find the safest, most stable and nurturing
care arrangements for vulnerable children and young people.
These longer-term deliverables will be informed by further consultation and a number of immediate
reform actions. Three immediate reform actions identified include:
 A tender process for the allocation of new funding to trial new approaches to therapeutic care
across the state. This new approach will place a more explicit focus on outcomes to be
achieved for children in care and service providers will be encouraged to innovate to provide a
more tailored service response for each child in their care. They will also be required to provide
support to the child, their family and their carer to achieve each child’s case plan goals.
 Trial of a new outcomes framework for all children and young people in care. Utilising an
appropriate information management platform, the Victorian Government will establish a statewide planning, assessment and outcomes-measurement system for use by all governmentfunded out-of-home care providers. We will regularly report on the results of this process. We
will also report regularly on a number of additional measures that will provide a picture of overall
agency performance.
 Development of a complementary plan for Aboriginal children and young people that identifies
specific actions to address the overrepresentation of Aboriginal children and young people in
out-of-home care and improve outcomes.
To support this work the Victorian Government will establish a Reform Advisory Group which will
be linked with the Community Sector Reform Council. This group will provide technical advice to
the Department of Human Services (department) on the implementation of this plan and support
appropriate consultative and information sharing processes to ensure that all service providers
remain informed and engaged in the reform process.
Informed by this advice and the experience of the immediate reform actions, the department will
provide an options paper to the Victorian Government at the end of 2014 on the proposed direction
for the long-term reform deliverables.
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3. Development of this plan
3.1 Sector consultation
In the spirit of improved collaboration and service co-design between government, service
providers and clients, this plan has been developed with considerable input from out-of-home care
service providers.
During 2013, a series of workshops were held to consider how the out-of-home care system could
be refined to achieve improved outcomes for children and young people in care. All organisations
funded to deliver out-of-home care services in Victoria were invited to attend. The Department of
Human Services, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and the
Commission for Children and Young People also participated. At the conclusion of these sessions,
a group of service providers presented a formal submission to the Victorian Government to inform
the development of this plan.2
This submission outlined sector challenges and opportunities, and offered a series of immediate,
medium and long-term actions for consideration. Broadly, it called for:
 Measurable outcomes that respond to the needs and promote the wellbeing and development
of children and young people in out-of-home care.
 More flexible, place-based services that can be tailored to the needs of children and young
people.
 Fair and adequate funding arrangements.
 Workforce arrangements that support improved quality and responsiveness.
 Inclusive and representative area-based governance arrangements.
Consultations concerning the specific challenges confronting Aboriginal children and young people
in out-of-home care were also held in mid to late 2013, facilitated by the Commissioner for
Aboriginal Children and Young People, Mr Andrew Jackomos. These consultations provided an
opportunity for Aboriginal community controlled organisations and other providers to develop a
submission for this plan and map out a process for further contribution to the complementary plan
for Aboriginal children and young people.3
2
Anglicare Victoria, Berry Street, EW Tipping, Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, MacKillop Family
Services, Salvation Army, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, Wesley Mission Victoria 2013. Five Year Plan for Out of
Home Care Submission from Victorian out of home care Community Service Organisations. The full text of that submission
is available at:www.cfecfw.asn.au/sites/www.cfecfw.asn.au/files/5_Year_Plan_Submission.pdf
3
A joint submission from Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and Community Service Organisations
2013. Koorie Kids: Growing Strong in their Culture. The full text of that submission is available at:
www.ccyp.vic.gov.au/downloads/submissions/submission-koorie-kids-growing-strong-in-their-culture-nov13.pdf
Page 14 of 60
The submission, provided in November 2013, highlighted concerns with the persistent and growing
overrepresentation of Aboriginal children and young people in care, and the out-of-home care
system’s failure to ensure these children and young people remain connected with their families,
community and culture. Concerns with poor outcomes and high rates of involvement with the youth
justice system were also highlighted. The submission made a clear link with this overrepresentation
and Australia’s history of dispossession of Aboriginal people and historical child removal practices.
The submission recommended seven priorities that the complementary plan for Aboriginal children
should consider:
 Priority One: develop an Aboriginal child and youth-focused cultural outcomes framework for
out-of-home care, from entry to exit, which embeds Aboriginal children’s rights around selfdetermination.
 Priority Two: create a comprehensive approach to address the cultural needs of Aboriginal
children and young people in out-of-home care.
 Priority Three: build the capacity of Aboriginal families and communities to care for their
children.
 Priority Four: place all Aboriginal children and young people in out-of-home care under the care,
authority and case contracting/management of an Aboriginal community controlled organisation.
 Priority Five: extend and enhance the coverage of the Aboriginal child welfare sector so
Aboriginal children and young people can access early intervention, home-based, residential
and permanent care within the broader suite of out-of-home care services in the area they live.
 Priority Six: grow and better support Aboriginal carers.
 Priority Seven: ensure compliance to meet the intent of legislative requirements in the Children,
Youth and Families Act 2005 as it relates to Aboriginal children and young people.
The process for developing the complementary plan for Aboriginal children and young people is
outlined later in this plan.
3.2 The views of children and young people
The primary aim of this plan is to drive improvements for children and young people in out-of-home
care. Every child and young person has the right to participate in the decisions that will impact on
their lives. As discussed throughout this plan, one of our system’s main failings is that we do not
systematically collect information about how well children and young people in care are faring –
and in particular information from children and young people themselves.
This plan proposes a means for much stronger, systematic engagement with children and young
people in care concerning their experiences. We will collate information about their education,
health and social outcomes, which will further inform policy and service provision into the future.
While we have not historically had a systemic approach to ensuring the voices of children and
young people in care are adequately heard, our new approach to gathering outcomes information
will address this.
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The CREATE Foundation’s Report Card 2013 4 was based on a national survey of more than 1,000
children and young people in care (162 from Victoria). It was designed to provide a benchmark for
how the system is faring in 2013 from the perspective of these children and young people. It dealt
with outcomes across all of the Looking After Children life domains (the framework used by all
Victorian out-of-home care providers) and the National Standards for Out-of-Home Care.
One of the issues the survey explored were the factors of ‘good’ and ‘not good’ placements – as
described by children and young people in care. The following finding was of note: ‘without doubt,
the experience of a warm, caring and supportive relationship defined the good placements.’ 5
This relationship provided the foundation for other important positive outcomes in the areas of
education, social and family connectedness, health and so on. This is not a surprising finding, but
it underscores the vital role that foster, kinship or residential carers – and others – play in driving
better outcomes for children and young people. It also underscores the importance of knowing you
are living in a stable, permanent home. Providing this crucial relationship in the life of all children
and young people in care is at the heart of our long-term vision for out-of-home care in Victoria.
The Report Card provides a comprehensive picture of the things that are important to children and
young people. It echoes the findings of the survey and focus groups undertaken by the CREATE
Foundation to support the work of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry (Cummins
Inquiry). That research identified a number of issues of importance to children and young people in
care, highlighting:
 The importance of having someone within their care environment with whom they have an
emotional connection.
 The importance of participating in decisions that affect them.
 The importance of feeling and being safe in their placement.
The CREATE report undertaken for the Cummins Inquiry identified a significant difference in
feedback received from children and young people placed in home-based care compared with
those who live in residential care. While the majority of children in home-based care spoke
positively about their carers and generally being happy in their placements, those in residential
care expressed real concerns regarding safety and with the negative influence and impact of some
of the young people they were placed with.
Negative peer influence is an issue all young people and their families will need to deal with from
time to time. For children and young people in out-of-home care, however, the impact of negative
influences can be more significant. This is due in part to the fact that for some children and young
people their own experience of abuse and neglect makes them highly vulnerable to external
influences and often contributes to a range of extreme behaviour. It is further magnified by the
absence of strong parental figures in their lives, setting the clear values and boundaries all children
and young people need.
4
McDowall, J.J 2013. Experiencing out-of-home care in Australia: The views of children and young people (CREATE Report
Card 2013), Sydney: CREATE Foundation.
5
McDowall, J.J 2013. Experiencing out-of-home care in Australia: The views of children and young people (CREATE
Report Card 2013), Sydney: CREATE Foundation, p.34.
Page 16 of 60
The young people consulted in the CREATE Foundation study emphasised the importance of
assessing and matching young people before they are placed within a particular residential care
unit. Numerous reviews have identified that in some cases appropriate matching of young people
to placements had not been possible. This was due primarily to the system’s inability to keep pace
with the rising demand for placements – particularly in home-based foster care.
This feedback is important and relevant to the aspirations of this plan. Improving the system’s
capacity to match children and young people with appropriate placements is a major issue the plan
must address. To date, our system has been responding to this issue via the establishment of
‘contingency’ units – short-term residential care arrangements, which are not recurrently funded,
and which offer no certainty or stability to the child in care or the service provider. These
arrangements are not ideal for supporting the development of a strong emotional connection with a
carer, which children and young people have identified as central to a good placement.
Significant efforts are already underway to reduce the use of contingency placements. Later in this
plan we outline our proposed approach to increasing placement capacity in order to maximise
opportunities for the development of the stable and nurturing relationships children and young
people have identified as essential.
Page 17 of 60
4. Victoria’s out-of-home care system
4.1 A history of reform
Victoria has a long history of leadership in out-of-home care. The shape of out-of-home care has
changed considerably in recent decades, and will inevitably continue to change. The evolution of
Victoria’s out-of-home care system is illustrated in Figure 3 and detailed below.
Figure 3: Victoria's history of reform
Pre-1950, nearly all children in care lived in residential care. Many of these were living in large
facilities operated by non-government organisations or one of the large state-run institutions of
Allambie, Turana, Baltara or Winlaton. From the 1950s, more children and young people started
moving into small family group home arrangements. Family group homes were typical suburban
houses where a married couple would provide care for up to four children, in addition to any
children of their own. In most of these cases, the husband would undertake paid employment
outside the home, while his partner provided full-time care for the children.
This move away from large institutions towards more normal home-like environments reflected the
growing awareness that such facilities provided far from ideal homes for children and young
people. Evidence of abuse and neglect of children in care within these institutions has now clearly
emerged, and the ramifications of this treatment still impacts the lives of many of these now adult
care leavers – a fact acknowledged by the Victorian and other governments through their
respective apologies to people abused and neglected in their care.
Page 18 of 60
During the 1970s the closure of large institutions created further momentum for home-based care
arrangements. Non-government organisations were supported to move away from congregate care
towards family group home arrangements and an expanded foster care program.
By the 1980s, around half of all children in care were living in some form of residential care
compared to 85 per cent in 1960. Most of these children were aged 10–18 years, with younger
children more often placed in foster care.
The last large state-run residential institution – Allambie – was closed in 1990. In the decade that
followed, the range of home-based care options expanded further and the move towards kinship
care gathered pace as government set a clear policy preference for children to be cared for within
their existing family or social networks wherever appropriate. Changes in industrial arrangements
and the increasingly complex behaviours of children and young people placed in care also saw a
shift away from family group homes towards rostered residential care services, where a rotating
shift of staff oversee day-to-day care. Today no family group homes remain, and all children in
residential care are cared for by a rostered staff team.
The recent focus of reform has been on investment in therapeutic care responses. This has been
informed by our growing understanding of the impact of neglect, abuse and trauma on a child’s
developing brain and type of care responses this requires. Services such as Take Two, therapeutic
residential care and therapeutic foster care have provided many volunteer carers and staff with a
much deeper understanding of how to care appropriately for children placed with them.
This evolution of out-of-home care has led to a system that is shaped very differently to that of the
1950s. Currently, only about seven per cent of children and young people reside in residential care;
50 per cent in kinship care; 21 per cent in foster care; and 22 per cent in permanent care (often
with kin or a previous foster carer).
This structure reflects the Victorian Government’s preferred ‘hierarchy of responses’ for children in
out-of-home care. Wherever possible, the preferred option is to prevent children and young people
entering care in the first place. Many families experiencing difficulties are supported day-by-day to
provide safe, stable, nurturing care for their own children. Victoria’s relatively low out-of-home care
placement rates reflect the fact that placement in care is seen as a last resort, a step taken only
when the risk of harm to the child requires it.
Where families fail to look after their children, however, alternative care arrangements are required
and must provide a safe, stable and nurturing home for these children. Informed by an assessment
of each child or young person’s best interests, our preferred forms of placement are: 6
1. Kinship care – where care is provided by a relative or existing member of the child or young
person’s social network. Kinship care has the benefit of both maintaining a child within their
family/network and minimising any unnecessary intrusion in family life by government.
2. Foster care – where care is provided by a volunteer carer in their own home – supported by a
community service organisation.
3. Residential care – where care is provided in small, community-based houses staffed by
rostered employees.
6
Wherever possible children and young people who are unable to return to parental care will be placed on permanent care
orders. These orders grant guardianship of the child to a permanent carer – who is most commonly a family member or a
foster carer who had been caring for the child.
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4.2 The current system
Since 2002, the number of children and young people in out-of-home care has grown by 5.3 per
cent per annum (Figure 4).7 This far exceeds the growth in Victoria’s 0–17 years population, which
has increased by only 0.5 per cent per annum. For Aboriginal children and young people in care
the rate of growth has been even higher – 9.5 per cent per annum against a total Aboriginal 0–17
years growth rate of 2.2 per cent per annum.8
Figure 4: Growth in the out-of-home care population
This rate of growth is significant, but compared with other Australian states and territories it is
relatively modest. During the period 2002 to 2013, the out-of-home care populations in New South
Wales and Queensland grew by 116 per cent and 150 per cent respectively, compared to Victoria’s
growth of 77 per cent.9
Victoria’s placement rate is the lowest in the country at 5.0 per thousand children and young
people aged 0–17 years. This is below the Australian rate of 7.7 per thousand. New South Wales’
rate of 10.5 is more than double the Victorian rate, as is the Northern Territory’s rate of 11.8 per
thousand.
7
Department of Human Services data.
8
Department of Human Services data
Department of Human Services Data – drawn from Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision
2013, Report on Government Services 2014, Productivity Commission, Canberra.
9
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Whilst comparatively contained, a key contributor to the growth in the number of children and
young people in care in Victoria has been the increasing length of care placements. 10 The
proportion of children staying in (non-permanent) care for five years or more has almost doubled
over the last decade.11 This fact demands attention, both to ensure opportunities to reunite children
with parents are not being lost and to ensure more timely placement of children in stable,
permanent care arrangements where appropriate. There is an urgent need to do a better job in
making timely decisions about the long-term care of children, where there is minimal chance that
the factors that led to their removal from home will change.
Within Victoria there are significant variations in placement rates and placement types between
areas (Figure 5 and Figure 6).12 In part this reflects differences in levels of socio-economic
disadvantage but is also likely influenced by service availability, variations in practice and service
effectiveness on the part of both government departments and service providers.
Figure 5: Placement rate by area
Department of Premier and Cabinet 2012. Report of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry, Department of
Premier and Cabinet, Melbourne.
11
Department of Premier and Cabinet 2012. Report of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry, Department of
Premier and Cabinet, Melbourne, pp. 243-244.
10
Department of Human Services data (Note that ‘area’ relates to the area of the agency or DHS outlet providing out-ofhome care services).
12
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The situation for Victorian Aboriginal children and young people is particularly concerning, as
illustrated in Figure 5. The average placement rate of 59 per thousand far exceeds the nonAboriginal rate of five per thousand, and is slightly higher than the Australian average for Aboriginal
children (56.9). This is clearly an issue that requires significant focus as this plan, and the
complementary plan for Aboriginal children and young people, is implemented.
Figure 6: Placement types by area
The care profile of out-of-home care has changed significantly over the past decade, illustrated in
Figure 7 below.13 In particular, there has been a distinct shift away from foster care towards
kinship care. This reflects a deliberate policy of placing children and young people in kinship care
wherever it is possible and in their best interests to do so, in order to maintain family relationships
and connections. It also reflects the ongoing challenge of attracting and retaining volunteer foster
carers.
13
Department of Human Services data.
Page 22 of 60
Figure 7: Change in out-of-home care
The shift towards kinship care is generally positive for the children, young people and families
concerned. However, it does mean an increased role for government as government-employed
child protection practitioners are responsible for the case management and supervision of the
majority of kinship care placements (around 2,500 compared to the 750 placements supported by
non-government organisations).14
One of the issues that this plan will need to tackle is how we create a stronger role for the nongovernment sector in providing support for children in kinship care and their carers. The
assessment and support of out-of-home carers and children in care are core skills of the nongovernment sector and future reforms should acknowledge and build on this expertise.
Figure 7 also illustrates that there has been a considerable reduction in the proportion (though not
the number) of children and young people who are in permanent care placements with a secure
and stable caregiver. Given the importance of stable care arrangements to a child or young
person’s healthy development, there is a clear need for a much stronger focus on timely planning
to improve permanency and stability through more permanent care placements.
14
Child protection practitioners now oversee around 43 per cent of all placements – up from 33 per cent ten years ago.
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5. The case for reform
5.1 Identified challenges
Reviews and reports over the past decade have demonstrated a number of challenges for out-ofhome care.
Table 1: Identified challenges
Increasing client
complexity
Children and young people in out-of-home care have experienced significant
abuse or neglect. There is evidence to suggest that for many children, they
are entering care from increasingly complex family environments, and this is
subsequently impacting on their own needs and behaviours whilst in care.
Appropriately meeting their needs is an ongoing challenge for carers and
other staff.
Rising demand
The demand to find suitable new placements tests the capacity of the system
to deliver quality care and diverts from efforts to prevent placements or
reunite children with families.
A fragmented system
The historical approach of funding narrowly-defined service types has
contributed to a situation where very few individual organisations now
provide the holistic, integrated suite of services that families with a child in
care, or at risk of entering care, need.
As a result, in most parts of the state, a family with a child placed in out-ofhome care may have dealt with one organisation when they received initial
family services support; a second if they received more intensive placement
prevention supports; a third when their child entered care; and a fourth when
plans to return the child home were enacted. With every change of worker
and organisation, existing relationships are lost; assessments are repeated;
and the family has to tell their story again to a new set of workers.
Services are not always
where they need to be
Some services are unavailable in some parts of the state, and overall service
Outcomes are not
measured adequately
The outcomes sought for children and young people in care have not been
appropriately articulated, and adequate outcomes data has not been
availability does not necessarily accord with demand or demographic factors.
collected and assessed. The existing funding model does not provide
incentives for a stronger focus on achieving outcomes.
Innovation has been
stifled
A program-specific approach to funding has meant that service providers
have not been given the flexibility to innovate and develop new service
models or more tailored responses that better meet the needs of children in
care. Innovation has occurred but in inefficient and inconsistent ways.
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Performance is variable
Every day, the lives of thousands of children and young people in out-ofhome care are improved by the efforts of the foster, kinship, permanent and
residential carers who look after them. However, we know that we can and
need to do better in some areas.
Statutory obligations around timely stability planning or development of
cultural support plans for Aboriginal children in care have sometimes not
been met. The approach to governance – and the establishment of effective
ways to identify and resolve issues that affect service effectiveness – has
been haphazard.
In the area of placement provision, some service providers have consistently
failed to provide the number of placements they are funded for, and the
department’s approach to addressing poor performance has been
inconsistent. As a result, there are some service providers who, over the
course of a year, fall well short of delivering on their contractual obligations.
Numerous factors have contributed to this scenario – chief among which is
the ongoing challenge of attracting and retaining volunteer foster carers.
However, the resultant mismatch between contracted targets and actual
performance is unsustainable and needs to be addressed.
Performance of placement prevention, reunification and leaving care support
services has also been variable, with some of these services unavailable in
some parts of the state. Timely supports are needed to prevent children
entering care; to enable their safe return home; or to ensure a successful
transition to independence.
Training and keeping
staff is a challenge
There has been significant workforce capacity and retention issues both
within and outside of government. This concerns both the volunteer and paid
workforce.
The need to address these challenges is at the core of the reform directions and approach
articulated in this plan.
5.2
‘Performance’ of the system
Our ability to meaningfully assess the performance of the system has been limited by a lack of
readily available outcomes data concerning children in care. Given this lack of data, our analysis of
performance in this section is, by necessity, focused on the much narrower aspects of service
availability and continuum, and provider performance against funded placement targets.
There are significant variations in the types of services available across different areas and in
provider performance against funded targets. In home-based care, some service providers receive
funding to care for more than 250 children while others are funded for as few as five. Similar
variability exists for residential care, with individual service providers caring for between two and
100 children.
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During 2012–13, service providers received funding to provide around 1,950 foster care
placements each night; however only around 1,550 placements were provided – a difference of
around 400. This equates to an average performance level of 80 per cent, although some
providers perform at close to 100 per cent while others are performing below 50 per cent. 15
This mismatch between funding and performance needs to be
addressed as part of our reform approach. There is a need to
unlock the significant resources invested across the system in
order to maximise the impact of the funding we have available.
In recent years, total expenditure on placement and placement
support programs by the Victorian Government has increased
significantly, and many service providers also report they have
invested significant amounts of funding from sources other than
government to support children and young people in out-of-home
care.
Investment has
increased
significantly over the
past five years, but
much of the
increased investment
is benefitting a
relatively small
number of children.
Much of this new investment has been directed towards expanding our capacity to meet the
therapeutic needs of children in care – in particular through specific therapeutic residential and
home-based care placements. These are important and effective placements, however they are
currently available for only a small proportion of the total number of children and young people in
care. Over the past five years, the number of children and young people in residential and foster
care has risen only slightly – the great majority of growth in placement numbers has been for
children in kinship care arrangements.
It is important that we continue to provide more opportunities for children and young people in care
to receive the therapeutic care responses many of them need. One way of doing this is to continue
to increase the number of therapeutic placements available. However, we also need to make sure
that we capitalise on the growing body of knowledge and expertise within the system so that a
larger proportion of carers and staff – not just those working in specific therapeutic foster or
residential care programs – are equipped to provide therapeutic care responses.
5.3 The balance of investment
Children, young people and families involved with child protection and out-of-home care will often
access a wide range of services, such as early childhood, mental health, homelessness, or family
violence services. A major aim of the Services Connect reforms is to create more integrated human
services across multiple programs and portfolio areas. Through stronger integration and
coordination, we seek to create a more effective and efficient response that better meets the needs
of vulnerable Victorians.
The analysis below takes a narrower focus, examining five service groupings which many children
and families involved with child protection and out-of-home care will access – family support
services; specialist placement prevention and reunification services; home-based care; residential
care; and leaving care support services. Figure 8 16 17 illustrates the proportion of funding currently
allocated to each of these services.
15
This variation in performance, combined with the pricing structure of our funding model, means that some agencies
effectively received funding of around $14,000 for each foster care placement they provided, whilst others received in
excess of $50,000 per placement.
16
Department of Human Services data.
17
Variation in the proportion of funding of some services allocated across DHS’ four divisions has also been noted – for
Page 26 of 60
Figure 8: Program funding
The high unit cost of residential care means that it accounts for almost half of all expenditure. While
good quality residential care is an essential part of any effective out-of-home care system, we must
ensure that it is used only when it is the most appropriate placement option. Residential care
cannot be seen as a default ‘placement of last resort’, but must rather be used only when it is the
best placement option for a child or young person. As part of our reform directions, as we develop
more innovative and flexible approaches to home-based care provision, residential care will
increasingly become the preferred placement option only for those young people whose needs and
behaviours are so significant that they require a more expert, therapeutic and heavily supervised
care response.
The reform of the system will need to consider the balance of investment across this spectrum and
introduce a broader range of support options. Central to this will be ways in which funding might
better support more targeted placement prevention and reunification efforts. While innovative
programs such as Stronger Families and the recently expanded Cradle to Kinder programs are
having an impact, we must explore more opportunities to improve our approach to family
preservation by making better use of existing resources.
Family services play a vital role in preventing the issues that can lead to involvement with child
protection and out-of home care. A good case could be made that Victoria’s ability to contain its
growth in out-of-home care relative to other jurisdictions has been due in large part to the growth in
family services over the past decade.
example the East Division has only 7 per cent of the total state funding for placement prevention services – compared with
38 per cent in the North and South Divisions.
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We must continue to explore opportunities to better leverage off the family services platform to
prevent child protection involvement and entry to care. We should also explore how we better
utilise the knowledge and skills of family services professionals in the reunification of children with
their families. In doing this we must strike a balance with the need for family services to continue to
support families at the very early stage of crisis and difficulty.
5.4 System integration
In addition to varying levels of investment, the services offered across areas have been
fragmented. A key example of this fragmentation is the divide that exists between the delivery of
family support, placement prevention, reunification, out-of-home care and leaving care services.
Ideally, children, young people and families in any part of the state should have access to a range
of integrated, high quality services that prevent placement; offer a wide range of suitable placement
types; support reunification; and enable transition to independence. This has not been the case.
Across the state, around 120 organisations are funded to deliver at
least one of these five services. Of these, around 90 organisations
deliver just one service. Only seven agencies deliver the full spectrum
of services. Of these only four deliver the full spectrum within any one
Department of Human Services local area.18
While diversity of providers offers service users greater choice and
can sometimes stimulate innovation, it is also appropriate to consider
whether our current structure facilitates the integrated responses
highly vulnerable children, young people and families need.
90 agencies
deliver just one
service. Fewer
than ten agencies
deliver the full
spectrum of
services.
We need to explore how service integration might be improved in future. This does not necessarily
mean that only large organisations capable of delivering a full range of services can be effective in
achieving positive client outcomes. But it does mean that we need to pursue much greater
integration and coordination of services at the local level.
18
Department of Human Services data.
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6. A new vision for reform
The structure and performance of the system of statutory child protection and out-of-home care
have been the focus of a number of reviews and reports over the past decade – each of them
highlighting the challenges and shortcomings of the existing system and warning that the entire
system is under significant stress.
Within this context the Victorian Government has been pursuing a broad reform agenda, aimed at
creating a more integrated, holistic, effective, efficient and sustainable human services system.
These reform directions were clearly outlined in the May 2013 publication Services Connect:
Better services for Victorians in need, which outlined the vision for a new model of integrated
human services delivery in Victoria.
This plan for out-of-home care is based on that vision, and informed by multiple reviews and policy
statements, including the Report of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry (Cummins
report). The Cummins report, which was released in February 2012, made 90 recommendations to
strengthen and improve the protection and support of vulnerable young Victorians – including the
development of this plan for out-of-home care. The Victorian Government’s initial response,
Victoria’s Vulnerable Children – Our Shared Responsibility Directions Paper was released in
May 2012.
In May 2013, a whole-of-Victorian-Government strategy,
Victoria’s Vulnerable Children – Our Shared
Responsibility Strategy 2013–2022 was released.
This underlined the shared commitment that exists
across government to improve outcomes for vulnerable
children, young people and families. It created a
performance management framework to monitor these
outcomes and committed to the establishment of local
cross-government and community networks to drive
improved service responses.
Services Connect is the model
for integrated human services in
Victoria, designed to connect
people with the right support,
address the whole range of a
person’s or family’s needs, and
help people build their
capabilities to improve their
lives. All of the out-of-home care
reforms will be based on
integration and workability with
this ‘joined-up’ service model
that places the client at the
centre of all practice.
On 1 November 2013, Service Sector Reform: a
roadmap for community and human services reform
was released. This report made several
recommendations on the themes of government and the
community sector working better together; client and community-led services; more focus on
outcomes; reducing red tape; and creating better value. In response, the Victorian Government has
adopted a number of principles (see Appendix A) and created the Community Sector Reform
Council to advise on the implementation of community and human services reform.
6.1 Reform strategy
Simply tweaking the current system by further increasing funding levels or establishing new standalone programs will not lead to the sustainable, systemic improvement we aspire to achieve.
More fundamental reform is required to reset how out-of-home is funded and delivered across
Victoria. This plan recognises that some reform will take time to be achieved and that we must
balance our effort between longer-term enablers and immediate opportunities to achieve the best
results. The reform strategy is summarised in Figure 9 below.
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Figure 9: Out-of-home care reform strategy
The reform strategy is guided by three overarching goals for out-of-home care. These goals reflect
the changes we aspire to achieve for clients, providers, government and the wider community:
 Improved outcomes – improved personal, economic and social outcomes for children and
young people in out-of-home care.
 Reduced demand – slow the growth in the number of children and young people being placed
in out-of-home care over the long-term.
 Sustainable delivery – create the foundation for a more sustainable, efficient and effective outof-home care system.
Page 30 of 60
These goals are informed by seven reform directions. Reform directions are necessary to provide a
set of more specific criteria against which we can assess the suitability of reform deliverables
identified to achieve our overarching goals. The seven reform directions are:
1. Government as commissioner of outcomes. There will be a strong focus on articulating,
measuring and improving outcomes for all children and young people in out-of-home care.
2. Less prescription and more flexibility to support service provider innovation. This will
help inform the design of a more flexible funding model that supports innovation, whilst still
ensuring appropriate levels of oversight and accountability.
3. A more integrated and coordinated service system that holistically meets client needs.
This will include greater integration of services that maintain and reunite families, and those that
provide out-of home care; and an improved capacity to provide the placements children need,
not just the placements that are available.
4. A more collaborative approach to system governance. Government and service providers at
the central and local level need to work together more effectively to shape long-term reform and
address immediate issues impacting on the effectiveness and efficiency of the system.
5. Processes that support service co-design between government, service providers and
clients. Including a more appropriate division of roles and responsibilities between government
and non-government services; and effective, collaborative governance arrangements that
support system improvement.
6. A stronger focus on productivity and efficiency – maximising public value from
investment. All governments across the western world are examining ways in which they can
maximise the impact of public investment. For out-of-home care in Victoria, government and
service providers must work together to identify opportunities to become more productive.
7. Targeted efforts to address overrepresentation of Aboriginal children and young people
in care and improve their outcomes. The massive overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in
care must be addressed. The complementary plan for Aboriginal children and young people in
out-of-home care will assist with this.
The reform strategy also articulates the longer-term deliverables and immediate actions required to
realise the overarching goals of this plan. This approach recognises the need for both an
investment in more fundamental system reform – which will take time to design and implement –
and more immediate reform opportunities that can be achieved in the shorter-term to deliver early
benefits. The longer-term deliverables are:
 A new funding model – we need to change the way we fund to drive a stronger focus on
outcomes; offer more flexibility to service providers to innovate and deliver better services; and
unlock the potential impact of our existing resources.
 A new service delivery platform – we need an approach that will create a more integrated
and effective service system.
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The more immediate actions are to:

Improve the safety and wellbeing of children and young people in residential care.
 Tender the delivery of a new therapeutic, outcomes-focused, care and support service.
 Implement outcomes monitoring framework.
 Develop a complementary plan for Aboriginal children and young people.
 Establish more collaborative governance arrangements.
 Increase the focus on stability and permanency.
 Explore professionalised in-home support.
 Provide additional support to reduce sexual exploitation.
 Improve leaving care support.
 Support kinship care.
 Support foster carers.
 Develop new approaches to commissioning.
The following sections provide a detailed breakdown of how the plan will be implemented (Section
7); the focus of the long-term reform deliverables (Section 8); and immediate reform actions
(Section 9). Together, the longer-term reform deliverables and immediate reform actions form the
focus of work for this plan.
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7. Approach to reform
The journey that begins with the release of this plan will be implemented over several years – and
is in reality an ongoing process. The Victorian Government is committed to working collaboratively
with non-government organisations and other stakeholders to deliver on the whole-of-government
commitment to improving outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care, as
articulated in the Victoria’s Vulnerable Children – Our Shared Responsibility Strategy 2013–2022
and in this plan.
It is essential the reform process this plan signals proceeds cautiously – but not so cautiously that
we unnecessarily delay the opportunity for significant reform. Figure 10 summarises the process
and timing for development and delivery of this reform plan.
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Figure 10: Out-of-home care reform approach
Page 34 of 60
In 2014, the key focus will be on initiating the immediate reform actions and using insights from
these alongside broader research and consultation to develop options papers on each of the
longer-term reform deliverables. In 2015, the focus turns to finalising the longer-term deliverables
and ensuring key structures are in place to support roll-out. Assuming key components of the plan
come together as anticipated, an implementation blueprint will be released in the second half of
2015 to inform roll-out in 2016.
To assist the reform process, the Victorian Government will establish a Reform Advisory Group
which will be linked with the Community Sector Reform Council. This group will provide technical
advice to the Department of Human Services (department) on the implementation of a new out-ofhome care system. This will be supported by appropriate consultative and information sharing
processes to ensure that all service providers remain informed and engaged in the reform process.
Informed by this advice, the department will provide a set of options papers to the Victorian
Government addressing the issues of alternative funding models and approaches to improving
service integration.
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8. Longer-term reform deliverables
Achieving the longer-term reform directions needed will require us to reconsider the types of
services government funds; the mix of these services; the funding models and mechanisms we
use; who is funded to deliver the services; and the spread of services across the state.
The key deliverables can be broadly summarised as:
 A new funding model that supports more innovative services and promotes a stronger focus on
the outcomes we achieve for children and young people.
 A process to establish a more integrated service delivery platform that better supports
placement prevention and reunification, and responds to the needs of children and young
people in or exiting care.
These two deliverables combine to support the achievement of the overarching objectives to
improve outcomes, reduce demand and enhance sustainability.
8.1 A new funding model
The current funding model has created a fragmented and inflexible system. Children and families
involved with the out-of-home care system are forced to engage with multiple organisations and
workers, and service providers are unable to deliver services that would better meet client needs
due to the restrictions placed around how funds can be used.
Funding inflexibility drives a focus on just the presenting issue rather than a holistic response to
individual or family needs and has resulted in a narrow focus – delivering out-of-home care
placements – at the expense of placement prevention or reunification services.
The Victorian Government seeks a system where funding to agencies is more significantly focused
on outcomes rather than almost exclusively on outputs.
Under such an arrangement, contracts would be awarded on
the basis of defined outcomes, with much less prescription over
the intervention employed to achieve those outcomes.
Innovative child, youth and family-focused services could be
encouraged and supported.
As part of the development and implementation of the new
funding model, consideration will be given to how all available
funding might be freed up to create a system that can be better
tailored towards the specific needs of each child.
The Victorian
Government seeks a
system where funding
to agencies is more
significantly focused
on outcomes rather
than almost
exclusively on
outputs.
Options to be considered include a model structured around a common base payment linked to
each placement, which is then bolstered by an additional child-attached funding package, based on
assessed needs. Packages could be reviewed on a periodic basis to ensure they keep pace with
the changing needs of children and young people in care and reflect an efficient level of funding.
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8.2 A new service delivery platform
Vulnerable children and families involved with the out-of-home care system, or on the cusp of
involvement, should not be forced to engage with multiple organisations and workers simply
because it is administratively convenient for government or service providers. The Victorian
Government seeks a system that is more integrated, with a seamless continuum of services, and
which meets service delivery requirements differently as appropriate to specific communities.
One way to achieve this is to reconfigure out-of-home care
services on a local area basis and encourage integration by
procuring ‘packaged’ services from a specified number of
providers in each area. Through this process – supported by
the new funding model – we would seek to create greater
integration between the services intended to maintain or
reunite children and young people with their families, and
those that provide alternative care and post placement
supports.
This does not necessarily mean that only large organisations
capable of delivering a wide range of service responses can
be effective in achieving positive client outcomes – but it
does mean that much greater integration and coordination of
services will be sought and supported at the local area level.
One way to achieve a
more integrated service
system is to reconfigure
on a local area basis
and encourage an
integrated service
delivery model by
procuring ‘packaged’
services from a
specified number of
providers.
There are various types of organisational arrangements that might be pursued to achieve this more
integrated approach, but a ‘one size fits all’ formula is unlikely to work for every part of the state.
Any reconfiguration of services will need to be mindful of the impact on transient populations (such
as homeless children and families) and some specific cohorts – such as Aboriginal Victorians or
culturally and linguistically diverse groups.
Given the high rate of Aboriginal children and young people in out-of-home care, we must be
particularly mindful to ensure that any reconfiguration of the service system will be of benefit to
Aboriginal children, young people and families. The Victorian Government has a clear commitment
– expressed in various documents including the Human Services Aboriginal Strategic Framework
2013–2015 – to improving outcomes for Aboriginal people in Victoria; working in partnership with
Aboriginal Victorians to achieve this; and ensuring the cultural competence of human services.
The submission from Aboriginal community controlled organisations and other service providers
stated an aspiration for all Aboriginal children and young people in care to be cared for and/or case
managed by Aboriginal organisations. Service reconfiguration offers opportunities to test this
vision, where it is appropriate and in the best interests of Aboriginal children and families to do so.
Also for consideration is the role of government in the future provision of out-of-home care.
Currently, government child protection practitioners oversee around half of all out-of-home care
placements and the appropriateness of this arrangement requires review.
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9. Immediate reform actions
9.1 Improve the safety and wellbeing of children and young people in
residential care
This plan is focused on improving outcomes for all children and young people in out-of-home care.
Within the out-of-home care population, however, the relatively small number of children and young
people who live in residential care are often those who have experienced the greatest levels of
trauma, and who therefore require the most expert therapeutic care and support.
Part of the long-term vision we seek for the Victorian out-of-home care system is for children and
young people to only be placed in residential care when it is the best placement option for them –
as opposed to the only placement option. Accordingly, our long-term vision is that the proportion of
children and young people placed in residential care will reduce over time and that all residential
care placements will become therapeutic placements – where the child or young person’s
therapeutic needs are met and our successes measured against the achieved outcomes. The
Victorian Government has already started down this reform path, securing the 40 trial placements
with ongoing funding, adding another 40 places and committing to a further 60 places in the next
eighteen months, taking the total to 140 before the end of 2015.
Making this direction a reality will take time and significant reform. As a starting point we will need
to create alternative placement options to accommodate some of the children and young people
residing in residential care, whose needs could be better met in new, therapeutic home-based care
or other non-residential care arrangements. This will be achieved through tailored funding
packages to provide individualised placement solutions for some children and young people
currently living in residential care.
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Realising this vision will require a process whereby all children and young people residing in
residential care, and those who might enter residential care in the future, are assessed to
determine their suitability for an appropriately supported therapeutic home-based care
arrangement. During 2014 a locally led process will review the current life situation of all children
and young people residing in residential care. This review will have two main aims:
1. To assess the potential for each child or young person to be placed in alternative, nonresidential care arrangements by making greater use of tailored funding packages to provide
therapeutic home-based care. These packages will be funded at levels commensurate with the
care needs of the child or young person.
2. To identify any one-off supports that might immediately improve the safety and wellbeing of
each child and young person in residential care.
As a first priority, the circumstances of children and young people in contingency placements will
be assessed. Based on the results of this assessment, a tender process – outlined below – will
occur during 2014 for the delivery of a more holistic, flexible, efficient and therapeutic care and
support service.
9.2 Tender the delivery of therapeutic, outcomes-focused, care and
support services
During 2014, the Victorian Government will begin a tender process for the delivery of a more
holistic, flexible, efficient and therapeutic care and support service. Funding will initially be made
available in this way for a two-year period in order to test a new approach, more clearly focused on
the outcomes sought for children and young people – as opposed to service types, inputs or
outputs.
The funding will build placement capacity in each division – one benefit of which will be a reduced
reliance on inappropriate contingency arrangements – and an increase in the number of children
and young people living in more stable, nurturing and cost effective placements.
The new service will also test our capacity to take a more integrated approach to the achievement
of longer-term case plan goals for children and young people in out-of-home care. Led by a ‘key
worker’, the new service will work with children, young people, their families, carers, child
protection staff and others to achieve each child’s overarching case plan goal – whether this is for
reunification with parents; placement in stable, permanent care arrangements; or a transition to
independence.
The process will seek submissions from service providers for the provision of therapeutically
informed care and support services that will:
 Meet the therapeutic needs of children and young people. This will be measured by
monitoring the outcomes achieved. Appendix B provides a proposed set of personal outcome
indicators to be monitored as part of this new approach.
 Adopt a more flexible and tailored approach. Children, young people and carers are the
focus of support – including through the effective use of brokerage funding.
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 Support children, carers and families through the provision of a ‘key worker’. The key
worker role will be consistent with the vision articulated in the Services Connect delivery model
– where one worker will lead the implementation of the child or young person’s case plan. This
means that the key worker may be required to play a lead role in reuniting children with their
parents; in supporting a child’s transition to permanent care; or in supporting their transition to
independence. Regardless of case plan direction or placement type, the key worker will follow
the child and play a lead role in supporting the child, their family and their carer in the
achievement of these goals.
 Access other programs and services. The service provider will integrate with and leverage
off other programs and services in a local area to achieve the specified outcomes and the
fulfilment of the child’s case plan.
 Explore all alternatives to residential care. Supporting the transition of children and young
people from residential care to well supported therapeutic foster or kinship care placements,
where this is appropriate, will be a priority, through the use of tailored and flexible supports for
carers and children.
 Demonstrate cultural sensitivity. The care will ensure that Aboriginal children and young
people in care remain genuinely connected to their community and culture.
This submission process offers service providers an opportunity to consider their approach to outof-home care and develop new responses that will drive improved outcomes, service integration
and greater efficiencies. It is an important first step in the broader reform agenda.
An evaluation of the services established through this process, and in particular the outcomes
achieved, will inform the further reform of out-of-home care.
9.3 Implement an outcomes monitoring framework
The existing out-of-home care system has not had a systematic approach to articulating and
monitoring the outcomes we want to achieve for children and young people. While there is regular
reporting on data such as placement stability and critical incidents, and occasional studies such as
the Child and Family Services Outcomes Survey, the lack of a systematic approach to monitoring
outcomes has been one of the system’s most significant weaknesses.
While this is the case, the Victorian out-of-home care system does make use of a practice
framework – Looking After Children (LAC) – that offers a strong platform for a much more
comprehensive understanding of the outcomes being achieved for children and young people in
care. In 2007 an initial analysis of a sample of children and young people in care, based on their
agency held LAC records was undertaken. A second analysis was then conducted in 2011 –
looking at the records of another sample of around 500 children. The findings from both cohorts of
children were very similar and showed that while the majority of the children in care were faring
well in most areas of their lives, there was a sizable proportion (up to 40 per cent) who were not
doing well in at least some areas.
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The 2011 data had an additional question which asked whether the child had had a previous
assessment and if so what change there had been in each of seven areas of their lives (health,
education, family and social relationships, and so on). Of the approximately 60 per cent who had
been in care long enough to have had a previous assessment, around half had improved outcomes
across all areas of their life after they came into care. This type of insight into how children are
faring in our care is extremely valuable – however it is not appropriate that this level of
understanding can only be gained episodically and in administratively complex and costly ways.
The first step in addressing this will be the adoption of a set of agreed outcomes for children and
young people in care. Services Connect: Better services for Victorians in need outlined a
high-level set of outcomes (outlined in Figure 11) and while these will be the subject of future
consultation and refinement, they provide a sound starting point.19
Figure 11: Indicative outcomes for children and young people in care
These outcomes will build on those contained in the Victoria’s Vulnerable Children’s – Our Shared Responsibility Strategy
2013–2022 and fulfil the strategy’s commitment to develop further measures around the wellbeing of children in out-of-home
care.
19
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Within the broad categories of economic, personal and social/community outcomes, more specific
outcomes can be articulated. This is outlined in Figure 12 below.
Figure 12: Indicative outcomes framework for out-of-home care
Personal
Children and young people in

Strong skills for life and meaningful participation.
and leaving out-of-home care
enjoy good health and

Strong engagement in education, training or
employment.

Access to appropriate housing and security of tenure.
Children and young people in

Enjoy good mental health.
and leaving out-of-home care
are safe and positively

Enjoy good physical health.
connected to friends, family and
their local and cultural

Make positive personal choices and show positive
communities through healthy
and supportive relationships.

wellbeing.
Social/
Community
behaviour.
Are free of problematic alcohol and drug use and its
effects.

Successfully manage issues connected to any
disability.

Successfully manage issues connected to trauma or
disaster.

Have a strong and positive connection to their
community and culture.
Economic
Children and young people in

Strong skills for life and meaningful participation.
and leaving out-of-home care
have the skills and support

necessary to participate in the
economy to their fullest
Strong engagement in education, training or
employment.

Access to appropriate housing with security of tenure.
capacity.
It is not possible to genuinely commit to a plan that seeks to improve outcomes for children and
young people without a means of tracking and reporting on those outcomes.
The second step will therefore be an investment in a system that enables this. It will be built
around the LAC framework mentioned above.
The establishment of this system will sharpen our focus on outcomes and drive actions to improve
them. Appendix B outlines the proposed indicators that will be used to monitor performance
against these outcomes. These will be subject to further refinement as the new approach is
implemented and assessed during 2014 and beyond.
The success of this approach will depend on our capacity to ensure a comprehensive assessment
of children and young people, to create a baseline against which outcome achievement can be
measured.
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Importantly, this approach will engage with children and young people in out-of-home care –
seeking their views on their care experiences; the things they aspire to; the outcomes being
achieved; and the positive and negative aspects of their lives. It will also actively engage with
carers – drawing on their knowledge of the children and young people they are caring for and
giving them an opportunity to provide feedback on current outcomes and needs.
A further key benefit of implementing this approach is that it will identify the many successes that
are currently being achieved for children and young people in out-of-home care. Too often we have
focused on issues and reports that emphasise failures. While we must face up to and address such
failings, the reality is that many children and young people in care reside in loving, nurturing
arrangements where their developmental needs are being well met.
A capacity to celebrate successes, whilst also holding the system accountable when things go
wrong, will be of major benefit.
In order to be truly effective, the Victorian Government will implement a process for reporting on
the results of this new approach. A set of key outcomes will be identified and results for each
service provider shared. By sharing this information, service providers and government will develop
a fuller understanding of how children and young people in care are faring in different parts of the
state and on a provider-by-provider basis. It will stimulate consideration of systemic, policy and
practice changes that might further drive improved outcomes. We will also report regularly on a
number of additional measures that will provide a picture of overall agency performance.
9.4
Develop a complementary plan for Aboriginal children and young
people
As outlined earlier in this plan, Aboriginal children and young people are significantly
overrepresented in child protection and out-of-home care. There are multiple and complex
historical, social, community, family and individual factors that have led to this overrepresentation.
There has been a real risk for Aboriginal children and young people placed in care that they would
lose connection with their family, community and culture. The CREATE Foundation’s Report Card
2013 identified that the approximately 300 Indigenous children and young people surveyed were
less likely to understand why they were in care compared to non-Indigenous children and young
people. It also found that only one third of Indigenous children and young people responded as
feeling ‘quite’ or ‘very connected’ to their culture or community, with another third feeling they were
‘not at all’ or only ‘a little’ connected.20
The existing Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 specifically recognises the particular needs
and vulnerabilities of Aboriginal children and young people. However, the Protecting Victoria’s
Vulnerable Children Inquiry (Cummins Inquiry) suggested that there is a need to further identify
different ways to improve outcomes for Aboriginal children and young people, and that this would
require focused effort across all areas of government activity and within Aboriginal communities.
To this end, the Victorian Government created the new position of Commissioner for Aboriginal
Children and Young People as part of the new independent Commission for Children and Young
People. In July 2013, Mr Andrew Jackomos was appointed as the first Commissioner for
Aboriginal Children and Young People. He is playing a key role in informing the development of
this plan and the complementary plan for Aboriginal children and young people in out-of-home care
20
McDowall, J.J 2013. Experiencing out-of-home care in Australia: The views of children and young people (CREATE
Report Card 2013), Sydney: CREATE Foundation, p.49.
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through both the Taskforce 1,000 project (see below) and the November 2013 submission Koorie
Kids: Growing Strong in their Culture.
The following statement taken from that submission expresses a view that is very consistent with
the directions we need to be taking in Victoria, not only for Aboriginal children and young people,
but also for all:
‘Underpinning the plan must be a serious and sustainable focus on tackling the underlying causes
of the growth of Aboriginal children in care. Aboriginal children in Victoria represent a small
population of just under 16,000 children; most are already known to service providers. But the first
significant service intervention these children and families experience, too often, may be admission
to out-of-home care. This just does not make sense. So much more could be done to reduce the
growth of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care if there were wider availability of well‐designed
and evidence-informed prevention and early intervention services.’21
Taskforce 1,000
Taskforce 1,000 takes its name from the approximately 1,000 Aboriginal children and young
people who currently live in out-of-home care in Victoria. The project is based on the
recognition that this is far too large a number of children to be living in care – yet at the same
time, a small enough number to enable government and service providers to examine why
they are in care; their physical, spiritual and cultural wellbeing; and any barriers that may be
preventing reunification with their family.
The taskforce will draw on the collective resources of government and service providers –
both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal – at the area level, to understand the experience of
Aboriginal children in care, their families and communities. The taskforce is intended to be
about actions – not processes. A major objective is to inform the complementary plan for
Aboriginal children and young people by identifying how we might:
 Improve the stability, life outcomes and cultural connections of Aboriginal children and
young people in care.
 Reduce rates of entry to care for Aboriginal children and young people.
 Improve opportunities to reunite Aboriginal children and young people with their parents
where it is in their best interests to do so.
The taskforce will focus its attention initially on four Department of Human Services local
areas which have a high Aboriginal population, preparing an initial report on these areas by
the end of June 2014 to inform next steps. In addition to shaping the complementary plan, the
work of the taskforce will initiate actions at the local level that immediately improve the
wellbeing of Aboriginal children and young people in care.
Importantly, the findings will also be of great benefit to the local networks being established
through the Victoria’s Vulnerable Children – Our Shared Responsibility Strategy 2013 –
2022 as it will inform these networks about cross-government actions that may improve
outcomes for local Aboriginal children and young people in care.
21
A joint submission from Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and Community Service Organisations
2013. Koorie Kids: Growing Strong in their Culture.
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9.5 New governance arrangements
Underpinning all of our reforms will be a commitment to collaborative governance of the out-ofhome care system. One of the principles adopted by the Victorian Government as contained in the
Service Sector Reform: A roadmap for community and human services reform report (Shergold
report) concerns shared governance:
‘Shared governance – all providers of publicly-funded services (whether public service agencies,
not-for-profit organisations, social enterprises or private businesses) should be regarded as “coproducers” of government services, jointly contributing to service design and sharing responsibility
for program delivery.’22
A further principle emphasises the importance of effective partnerships between government and
non-government agencies:
‘Partnership – the collaborative relationship between the public service agencies and nongovernment organisations that together deliver government programs – should be founded on
appreciation of the constraints under which all sides operate, mutual respect, reciprocated trust,
authentic consultation, genuine negotiation and a shared recognition of common purpose.’23
An area like out-of-home care, perhaps more than most others, relies on such effective, mature
partnerships, underpinned by a strong approach to governance. Feedback received during the
consultation process for this plan has identified that too often the volatile and demanding nature of
work in this area acts against these principles. This is true at the local level, where complex
decisions are being made daily about a myriad of issues concerning children and young people. It
is also true centrally, as decisions are being made about policy directions that shape outcomes for
children and young people.
Improved compliance with these principles underpins a number of steps to be taken during 2014
and beyond.
There are three key activities that will support new governance arrangements:
 Improving processes and reducing administrative burden.
 Improving health and education outcomes.
 Establishing local networks.
22
Shergold, P, AC 2013. Service Sector Reform: A roadmap for community and human services reform, Melbourne.
23
Shergold, P, AC 2013. Service Sector Reform: A roadmap for community and human services reform, Melbourne.
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Improving processes and reducing the administrative burden
In addition to the Reform Advisory Group to be established to support longer-term reform
directions, a System Improvements Working Group will be established to identify and resolve
practical impediments to the effective functioning of the out-of-home care system.
Consultation with service providers during the development of this plan identified a number of
practical issues that, if resolved, will offer concrete improvements to the way the system operates.
Some of these require policy responses; some require better working relationships at the local
level; some may require additional or redirected funding; others require the removal of ‘red tape’
restrictions or a re-engineering of existing processes.
Examples of some of the issues that have been identified and which warrant further consideration
include:
 The opportunity to streamline existing foster carer training and assessment processes to better
support timely carer accreditation and the supply of carers.
 A more contemporary and comprehensive approach to foster carer recruitment.
 The establishment of a more consistent approach across the Victorian Government to the
treatment of client expense funding which streamlines the administrative requirements imposed
by some parts of government.
 Addressing the barriers to more collaborative and respectful engagement with foster carers.
 Building more effective working relationships at the local level between child protection,
placement co-ordination and out-of-home care agency staff.
 A more consistent 'panel-based' approach for identifying suitable placements for children
entering care or those who require a change in placement. In some jurisdictions, panel-based
approaches – where multiple placement providers meet with the Department of Human
Services to find appropriate placement solutions – result in better placement outcomes being
achieved.
 A range of other administrative issues including the paper-based systems used for the reporting
of critical incidents, and some elements of the quality-of-care processes, have also been
identified.
Improving health and education outcomes
In the 2011–12 State Budget, the Victorian Government committed $12.8 million over four years for
the Health and Education Assessments Initiative for children and young people in out-of-home
care.
Through programs such as the Pathway to Good Health, Take Two, and the roll-out of health
assessments for all young people in residential care, the Victorian Government has facilitated new,
comprehensive approaches to understanding and responding to the health needs of children and
young people placed in out-of-home care. However, there continue to be gaps and barriers to
access to health care for vulnerable children and young people in out-of-home care.
In the area of education, a range of administrative arrangements between the Department of
Human Services, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, the Catholic
Education Office, Independent Schools Victoria, the Municipal Association of Victoria and the Early
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Learning Association of Australia seek to support and prioritise the educational and developmental
needs of children and young people in out-of-home care.
These arrangements have had some success to date. However, they are too inconsistently applied
and often viewed as a ‘bolt-on’ approach, which further complicates the already complex task of
supporting vulnerable children and young people to engage and succeed in education.
For these reasons, the Victorian Government has begun a review of the governance arrangements
of a range of health and education activities for children and young people in out-of-home care,
and has established an integrated Health and Education Governance Group.
This group will comprise senior representatives from across government, the Principal
Commissioner for Children and Young People and non-government service providers with
responsibility for education and health matters for children and young people in care.
Linking with the local networks described below, the new approach will inform collaborative and
localised decision-making processes and monitoring arrangements to ensure more timely and
coordinated responses to the needs of vulnerable children.
These groups will also be supported by the results of a new data agreement between the
Departments of Human Services and Education and Early Childhood Development. This
agreement has enabled the two departments to match data that identifies all children in out-ofhome care within school data records. It will enable a much richer understanding of how children in
care are performing at school.
Establishing local networks
The Victoria’s Vulnerable Children – Our Shared Responsibility Strategy 2013–2022
committed to the establishment of local networks ‘…to ensure local information sharing and
coordination of service provision and planning relevant to vulnerable children.’24
These networks will be made up of senior representatives from the community sector and state,
local and federal government. As noted in the strategy: ‘These networks will also be an important
tool in accountability as they provide a means by which, at key points within a service system,
managers can be accountable for outcomes both jointly as a group but also individually in relation
to their specific responsibilities.’25
Implementation of these networks will commence during the first quarter of 2014. One network will
be established in each of the Department of Human Services’ 17 local areas, with four networks to
be established before the middle of 2014. The remaining networks will be established by the end of
2015.
The networks will be important vehicles for ensuring a strong focus on the outcomes being
achieved for children and young people in out-of-home care at the local level. Progress against a
number of key indicators will be tracked and monitored by this group, and actions taken to drive
improvements at the local level. The networks will link with and be informed by the Health and
Education Governance Group described above.
Victorian Government 2013, Victoria’s Vulnerable Children – Our Shared Responsibility Strategy 2013-2022, State
Government of Victoria, Melbourne, p.24.
25
Victorian Government 2013, Victoria’s Vulnerable Children – Our Shared Responsibility Strategy 2013-2022, State
Government of Victoria, Melbourne. p.24.
24
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Work undertaken as part of the Taskforce 1,000 project, and outcomes gathered via the proposed
outcomes framework discussed earlier, will also provide valuable information to these networks,
identifying areas where additional focus and effort is needed to improve personal, economic and
community outcomes for children and young people in care.
9.6 Increase focus on stability and permanency
For children and young people in out-of-home care for whom safe reunification with their family is
not a realistic prospect, the best outcomes are achieved through stable, long-term placements.
The Cummins Inquiry found that on average it takes around five years for a child to be placed on a
permanent care order.26 This is an excessively long period of time considering the importance of
stable, secure care arrangements to healthy development and is an issue that must be addressed.
The Stability Planning and Permanent Care project began in November 2012 and its final report
will be completed by June 2014. It has reviewed the circumstances of each child in out-of-home
care who is under ten years old and subject to a permanent care case plan, or who has been in
out-of-home care for longer than 12 months and is without a stability plan.
The project has identified a number of factors impacting on the system’s capacity to achieve
stability in a more timely way. These cross over the areas of practice, policy and legislation.
As an important first step to improving our approach to stability and permanency, the Victorian
Government will consider legislative amendments – many of which were proposed in the Cummins
Inquiry – to remove barriers to permanent care.
Amendments to be considered will include:
 Simplification of the current scheme of protective orders to create better alignment between
approved case plan directions and the scope of protective orders.
 The impact of conditions placed on permanent care orders – and in particular the
appropriateness of placing parental contact conditions on these orders.
 Opportunities to reduce the number of court hearings and the complexity of court processes.
Another issue identified by carers as impacting on their willingness to become permanent carers
concerns the provision of support after a Permanent Care Order has been granted. The potential
for strengthening support post a Permanent Care Order is one of the issues that will need to be
considered as part of the review of the current funding model.
Achieving permanent care in a timely way also requires focused case planning and the recruitment
and assessment of suitable permanent carers. Opportunities for practice improvements in this
area will be explored at the local level through consideration of the creation of ‘stability planning’
panels – which will monitor, track and resolve barriers to permanency for children and young
people. These panels will be made up of departmental and non-government representatives and
will leverage off existing forums established at the local level.
Department of Premier and Cabinet 2012. Report of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry, Department of
Premier and Cabinet, Melbourne, p.229.
26
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9.7 Explore professionalised in-home support
It is particularly challenging to find suitable placements for children and young people with more
complex needs. This difficulty has contributed to an increased reliance on residential care or
inappropriate contingency placements – which have too often become the placement of last resort
for many children, rather than the placement that will best meet their needs.
There is a need for more innovative, home-based placement options for some of these children
and this will be explored through the tender process outlined in section 9.2 above. One option,
which would potentially increase opportunities for children and young people to find suitable homebased care placements, is through the introduction of a professionalised in-home support model.
Internationally, various models of this nature exist, however in Australia there are a number of
taxation and industrial award-related barriers that have prevented it being a care option.
Through the Council of Australian Governments, the Victorian Government has been advocating
for the legislative and policy changes that would overcome these barriers. Together with other
bodies such as the independent Commission for Children and Young People, the Victorian
Government will continue to lobby the Commonwealth Government to reach agreement on how the
barriers to a professional foster care model might be overcome.
Beyond this advocacy role, the roll-out of new funding will offer service providers the opportunity to
propose new types of placement arrangements, better suited to the needs of some of these
children and young people.
9.8 Provide additional support to reduce sexual exploitation
In January 2013, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was
established to investigate how institutions with a responsibility to children have managed and
responded to allegations and instances of child sexual abuse. The Royal Commission has been
appointed for three years until 2015 and will address how legislation, policies and practices can be
improved to prevent and protect children and young people against sexual abuse.
Young people in out-of-home care are highly vulnerable to sexual exploitation – both as a result of
their own histories of trauma, but also because they are often specifically targeted and groomed by
abusers.
Work undertaken by the Office of Professional Practice within the Department of Human Services
has demonstrated that the risk of sexual exploitation can be managed and reduced. In 2012,
specialist best practice resources were published by the Victorian Government and specific training
is being delivered jointly by the Office of the Principal Practitioner and Victoria Police. About 2,000
child protection practitioners, police, service providers and residential care workers have been
trained together during 2013, sharing data and experience, to better protect vulnerable young
people.
As part of this plan, it is the Victorian Government’s intention to provide additional support for this
joint training and to put in place strong arrangements to ensure that persons suspected to be
targeting, grooming or exploiting young people in care are actively pursued by police.
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As part of this work, service providers that deliver out-of-home care services will be required to
have a formal child sexual exploitation prevention and response strategy in place. The Commission
for Children and Young People will be requested to undertake an annual audit of randomly
identified children and young people in out-of-home care and report to the Minister for Community
Services on the quality of service delivery they are receiving.
Police are working with the Department of Human Services to 'disrupt' offenders by letting them
know that they are being watched. This avoids having to get sworn statements from abuse victims
before police can act.
New grooming laws, which have passed the Victorian Parliament, will give us more opportunities to
secure criminal convictions. The laws reflect a better understanding of the dynamics of sexual
abuse and sexual exploitation. They give us much wider scope because they are actually going to
pick up the enticement, manipulation and grooming – and we have lacked capacity to do that
before.
The problem of sexual exploitation of vulnerable children and young people is not a new one, but
this approach to dealing with it is new and we expect will have a significant impact in keeping
children safe.
9.9 Improve leaving care support
In any young person’s life, the transition from living in the family home to independence can be
difficult. Navigating the wide range of life challenges including securing affordable housing,
employment and/or education opportunities, as well as establishing new support structures and
friendships is challenging for most young people.
In the broader community, the majority of young people remain with their parents until well into
their twenties. But young people in out-of-home care leave at age 18 and this transition can be
extraordinarily difficult for some, sometimes resulting in homelessness, poverty and an ongoing
cycle of disadvantage.
In Australia, all states and territories offer support of some kind to young people exiting care. In the
Victorian context, a range of government-funded programs such as Post Care Support, Information
and Referral services, mentoring services and the Springboard program assist young people
transition from out-of-home care. These programs are having an impact, but could be improved.
The operation of these services, and how we can increase their impact, is one of the issues we will
consider as part of the longer-term reforms outlined in this plan. This will include the exploration of
opportunities to continue to support young people post-care beyond 21 years of age.
In order to achieve better outcomes for care-leavers, we need to better understand what happens
to young people when they leave care and how they can be better supported. We also need to
recognise that improving support for young people both while in care and post leaving care has
downstream benefits for government – reducing reliance on services such as homelessness
supports, corrections and drug and alcohol support services.
In 2012, the Victorian Government engaged the Australian Institute of Family Studies to conduct
the Beyond 18 study: The longitudinal study on leaving care, which is the first five-year longitudinal
research study of young people transitioning from care in Victoria. The study will run to the end of
June 2017 and includes four waves of data collection and repeat face-to-face interviews with a
group of young people who leave care between 16 and 18 years of age. It is anticipated that this
study will provide evidence to improve effective transition from out-of-home care and better focus
our attention on the impact of earlier and better supports post-care.
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While this research will provide further valuable insights to shape future policy responses, we are
already aware of some areas where specific action is required.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare highlights the strong link between the homelessness
and child protection systems – noting that each year approximately 30,000 of the 100,000 children
and young people who access homelessness services have been the subject of a substantiated
notification of abuse or neglect.27
Further research has identified that there is a very clear relationship between having been placed
in out-of-home care as a child and lifetime durations of homelessness. In simple terms, people
engaged with the homelessness service system who also have a history of out-of-home care are
significantly more likely to spend a longer time homeless over their lifetime than respondents who
had never been in state care.28
Intervening early to support a young person’s transition from out-of-home care to adulthood will
therefore have significant benefits not only for that young person, but also for service systems,
including the homelessness system.
Currently, planning occurs with young people prior to leaving care to ensure they have a smooth
transition. Transition planning is meant to be holistic, considering the range of needs to transition to
independence, including post-care accommodation options. However, there is an opportunity to do
better both in terms of planning and support offered so that young people have access to
appropriate and stable accommodation that meets their needs.
The Victorian Government will focus on strengthening the housing and support pathways for young
people leaving care so that they have access to appropriate and stable housing and the necessary
supports to aid the transition to independent living.
Young people will be supported to access a range of housing options including private rental and
sharing with friends and extended family. In some instances, young people leaving out-of-home
care may be supported through one of the three new, 40-bed Youth Foyers, which provide stable
accommodation and support to access education, employment and training.
The Victorian Government has invested significantly in tackling homelessness and has focused on
trialling innovative approaches to homelessness; investigating models to target early intervention
and prevention; and the better allocation of resources to areas where they are most needed and
will have the greatest impact. There is an opportunity to continue to develop housing services for
young people so that support is focused on their economic and social participation. Such
participation, supported by stable housing, is crucial for young people to establish and maintain
independent living.
Our leaving care programs will continue to support young people up to the age of 21 years and
through this plan government will identify ways in which improved outcomes for young people
leaving care can be achieved. By strengthening and streamlining both transition planning and
housing and support pathways, we have an opportunity to ensure young people exiting care are
able to access and sustain housing that best suits their needs, and as far as possible divert them
from homelessness. We will also be reviewing existing data to clarify the needs of young people
leaving care and identify those that will require more intensive support.
27
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2012. Children and young people at risk of social exclusion: links between
homelessness, child protection and juvenile justice. Data linkage series no. 13 Cat. no. CSI 13. Canberra: AIHW.
28
Johnson, G and Chamberlain, C 2008. From Youth to Adult Homelessness, Australian Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 43,
No. 4, Summer 2008.
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9.10 Trial a new approach to kinship care
As noted earlier, the past decade has seen a significant and deliberate shift towards kinship care
as the primary form of out-of-home care. While kinship care arrangements maintain a child’s
connection with their biological family, there can be little doubt that in some instances these
placements require greater levels of support and monitoring than can be provided by government
child protection practitioners.
Recommendation six of the Shergold report states:
‘While decisions on the most appropriate approach to service delivery should be based on a careful
evaluation of the most effective way of creating public value, the default position should be an
expectation that an increasing range of government services will be delivered by non-government
organisations.’29
Successive Victorian Governments have long been of the view that the assessment and support of
carers and children in out-of-home care is most effectively provided by the non-government sector.
The shift towards kinship care has worked against this position.
The Victorian Government has already started to respond to this issue through funding nongovernment services to provide support for around 750 kinship care placements, as well as a
range of support and information services. The reform process needs to consider opportunities to
build further on this recognition of the non-government sector’s capacity in this area.
The tender process outlined above will encourage service providers to outline their approach to
providing tailored and innovative kinship care support services, to enable the transfer of children
and young people from contingency or other non-family based placements, to good quality kinship
care arrangements.
9.11 Better engage foster carers
Like other jurisdictions, Victoria is facing a challenge with the recruitment of volunteer foster carers
and has also experienced a fundamental shift away from foster care towards kinship care as the
predominant type of out-of-home care placement.
Foster carers are and will continue to be vitally important to the out-of-home care system. There is
a clear need for action that arrests the comparative decline in the supply of foster carers in Victoria.
There is no single, simple solution to this. A combination of actions – which will require changes to
funding arrangements, practice, policy and the culture of the system – will be required.
In addition to exploring new approaches through the reform of the out-of-home care funding model,
the following actions will be considered.
29
Shergold, P, AC 2013. Service Sector Reform: A roadmap for community and human services reform, Melbourne, p. 48.
Page 52 of 60
Improving carer recruitment
There is a need to improve our current approach to carer recruitment and retention. The
Recruitment and Retention of Foster Carers in Victoria report was completed in late 2013. The
report examined the characteristics, motivations and marketing approaches that support the
attraction and retention of carers.
The report recommends moving towards a more contemporary marketing approach.
During 2014, consultation with service providers will consider these recommendations. The
potential for funding a state-wide marketing campaign is one of the issues to be further considered
in collaboration with service providers.
Respecting and listening to foster carers
A recurring observation of many foster carers is the failure of the system to adequately seek their
views when decisions about the child or young person they care for are being made. In the worst
cases, carers have expressed the view that they are treated disrespectfully by workers and others.
Despite practice innovations such as care teams, and the longstanding expectation of consultation
with and respectful treatment of carers, it is clear that more must be done.
One of the process improvements to be considered by the System Improvements Working Group
will be an examination of simple ways to improve engagement with foster carers. Both funded
service providers and child protection staff have a responsibility to improve performance in this
area.
9.12 New approaches to commissioning
Social impact bonds are one of a number of innovative funding models which have been developed
in various countries around the world to help deliver programs aimed at better addressing complex
social challenges. They are essentially ‘pay for success’ contracts with the public sector where a
commitment is made to pay for improved social outcomes that result in public sector savings.
They support social innovation by providing a mechanism for investors to fund programs based on
early intervention, prevention or breaking the cycle of dependence. They offer the potential to
achieve significantly better social outcomes and deliver future cost savings for government.
The Victorian Government is actively investigating the feasibility of social impact bond trials in
various portfolios as part of its broad agenda for public sector reform.
Several opportunities exist to test the suitability of this approach in supporting better outcomes for
children and young people in care, at risk of entering care, and leaving care.
During 2014, the Victorian Government will develop a business case to pilot a social impact bond
in three areas relevant to this plan:
 services that prevent entry to care and/or support reunification of children and young people in
care with their parents
 services that support transition from residential care to appropriately supported home-based
care placements
 services to improve the life outcomes for young Victorians leaving out-of-home care.
Pending the outcome of the business case, further collaboration with stakeholders to implement a
social impact bond trial in some or all of these areas will commence.
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10. Next steps
The immediate next step in progressing this plan will be the establishment of the Reform Advisory
Group and the Systems Improvement Working Group. An appropriately resourced reform
secretariat will also be appointed in early 2014.
As part of their initial work, the two groups will develop a set of more detailed milestones to track
and report on progress with both the long-term and immediate actions committed to in this plan. A
process for ensuring effective feedback to all interested stakeholders will also be established.
Some key milestones already in place include:
 The assessment of children and young people in residential care placements, to determine
immediate support needs and the potential for alternative placement arrangements, scheduled
to commence in April 2014.
 To undertake the tender process for the allocation of new, tailored funding packages for the
provision of therapeutic home-based care based on the results of this assessment, during 2014.
 The establishment of the outcomes information system, and a framework for reporting on the
outcomes achieved, and wider agency performance measures, to be in place during the third
quarter 2014.
 The establishment of Taskforce 1,000 and the development of an initial report for government
based on findings in four areas, to be completed by the end of June 2014.
The implementation of the plan will be supported by a funding package totalling $128 million over
the next four years.
The Victorian Government is committed to working collaboratively with non-government
organisations and other stakeholders to deliver on the whole-of-government commitment to
improving outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care, as articulated in the
Victoria’s Vulnerable Children – Our Shared Responsibility Strategy 2013–2022 and in this plan.
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11. References
Anglicare Victoria, Berry Street, E W Tipping, Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare,
MacKillop Family Services, Salvation Army, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, and Wesley
Mission Victoria 2013. Five Year Plan for Out of Home Care Submission from Victorian out of
home care Community Service Organisations July 2013,
http://www.cfecfw.asn.au/sites/www.cfecfw.asn.au/files/5_Year_Plan_Submission.pdf.
A joint submission from Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and Community
Service Organisations 2013. Koorie Kids: Growing Strong in their Culture,
http://www.ccyp.vic.gov.au/downloads/submissions/submission-koorie-kids-growing-strong-in-theirculture-nov13.pdf.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2012. Children and young people at risk of social
exclusion: links between homelessness, child protection and juvenile justice. Data linkage series
No. 13 Cat. No. CSI 13. Canberra: AIHW.
Department of Premier and Cabinet 2012. Report of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children
Inquiry, Department of Premier and Cabinet, Melbourne.
Johnson, G and Chamberlain, C 2008. From Youth to Adult Homelessness, Australian Journal of
Social Issues, Vol. 43, No. 4, Summer 2008.
McDowall, J.J 2013. Experiencing out-of-home care in Australia: The views of children and young
people (CREATE Report Card 2013), Sydney: CREATE Foundation,
http://www.create.org.au/create-report-card-2013.
SCRGSP (Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision) 2013, Report on
Government Services 2014, Productivity Commission, Canberra.
Shergold, P, AC 2013. Service Sector Reform: A roadmap for community and human services
reform, Melbourne, www.dhs.vic.gov.au/about-the-department/plans,-programs-andprojects/projects-and-initiatives/cross-departmental-projects-and-initiatives/service-sector-reform.
Victorian Government 2013, Victoria’s Vulnerable Children – Our Shared Responsibility Strategy
2013-2022, State Government of Victoria, Melbourne, http://www.dhs.vic.gov.au/about-thedepartment/plans,-programs-and-projects/plans-and-strategies/victorias-vulnerable-childrenstrategy-2013.
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Appendix A – Statement of principles
In order to provide quality and culturally-specific services for vulnerable Victorians, the Victorian
Government supports the following principles:
 Achieving the best outcomes for clients – the overriding goal of government policies and
programs, and the prime objective of those organisations that implement them, should be to
ensure that service delivery maximises public value and improves the quality of life of the
people who use them.
 A holistic approach – the elements of multiple disadvantage are complex and so the support
services provided should be ‘joined-up’ and ‘wrapped-around’ the individual or family in need.
 Partnership – the collaborative relationship between the public service agencies and nongovernment organisations that together deliver government programs should be founded on
appreciation of the constraints under which all sides operate, mutual respect, reciprocated trust,
authentic consultation, genuine negotiation and a shared recognition of common purpose.
 Shared governance – all providers of publicly-funded services (whether public service
agencies, not-for-profit organisations, social enterprises or private businesses) should be
regarded as ‘co-producers’ of government services, jointly contributing to service design and
sharing responsibility for program delivery.
 Provider choice – the vibrant diversity of community service organisations should be
recognised as a strength and harnessed to provide the public with a greater choice of highquality programs and a range of providers able to deliver services in different ways.
 Program flexibility – services should be evidence-based and responsive to the distinctive
needs of a neighbourhood, region or area and/or tailored to the particular circumstances faced
by communities of interest.
 Citizen control – individuals and families who require community support should be
encouraged and empowered to take greater control of the services they require to live a full and
independent life.
 Public accountability – public accountability should focus on outcome performance rather
than simply complying with process, with a particular emphasis on the effective use of funding
received to achieve agreed outcomes for the public and on measuring the longer-term social
impact of programs and services.
 Early intervention – while the immediate need for expenditure on crisis management must be
acknowledged, there should be a progressive move towards increased investment in crisis
prevention through early intervention.
 Facilitation – the Victorian Public Service should measure its success by its ability to facilitate
cross-sectoral collaboration in providing government services and programs, seeing its role as
that of ‘system stewardship’.
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Appendix B – Outcomes framework
Outcome
Indicators to be monitored
Personal
Children and young people in out-of-home care enjoy good health and wellbeing
Children and young
people in out-of
home care enjoy
good mental health

Each child’s total difficulties score on the SDQ/emotional and behavioural
problem scale (tracked during course of placement).

Percentage (and number) of children (0–17 years) whose total difficulties score
on the SDQ/emotional and behavioural problem scale is ‘of concern’.

Percentage (and number) of children receiving effective treatment for emotional
and behavioural problems.

Percentage (and number) of children (15–17 years) engaged in self-harm (past
month).
Children and young
people in out-of
home care enjoy
good physical health

Percentage (and number) of children (0–2 years) fully immunised.

Percentage (and number) of children (5–17 years) where physical activity meets
national recommendations (1 hour moderate/vigorous activity each day).

Percentage (and number) of children (0–17 years) where fruit and vegetable
consumption meets national recommendations (two serves fruit and five serves
vegetable each day).
Children and young people in out-of-home care make positive personal choices and show positive behaviour
Children and young
people in out-of

Percentage (and number) of young people (15–17 years) who have smoked
cigarettes (past year).
home care are free of
problematic alcohol

and drug use and its
effects
Percentage (and number) of young people (15–17 years) who have drunk alcohol
(past month).

Percentage (and number) of young people (15–17 years) who have used illicit
drugs (past month).
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Outcome
Indicators to be monitored
Economic
Children and young people in out-of-home care have the skills and support necessary to participate in the
economy to their fullest ability
Children and young
people in out-of
home care have
strong skills for life
and meaningful
participation in the
economy
Children and young
people in out-ofhome care have
strong engagement
in education, training

some form of early childhood learning.30

Percentage (and number) of 16–17 year olds with learner’s driving permit.

Percentage (and number) of children (3–4 years) who attend
kindergarten/preschool.

Percentage (and number) of children (5–14 years) in full-time education.

Percentage (and number) of young people (15 years and over) in full time
education or work.

people in out-ofhome care have
access to appropriate
housing with security
of tenure
Percentage (and number) of young people (15 years and over) with part-time
jobs.

and/or employment
Children and young
Percentage (and number) of babies and young children (0 –2 years) engaged in
Percentage (and number) of young people (15 years and over) who have
developed ‘many’ skills for employment.

Percentage (and number) of children who are happy at school.

Percentage (and number) of children who have had two or more placements in
the past year.

Percentage (and number) of young people (15 years and over) who have a clear
and achievable plan for where they will live when they exit care.

Percentage of young people that have exited from care who independently
maintain stable housing after six months.
30
Includes child care, playgroup, parent-child lesson story-time at library or toy library.
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Outcome
Indicators to be monitored
Social/community
Children and young people in out-of-home care are safe and positively connected to friends, family and their
local and cultural communities through healthy and supportive relationships
Children and young
people in out-ofhome care have safe
and positive personal

Percentage (and number) of children definitely attached to at least one caregiver.

Percentage (and number) of children who are picked on or bullied.

Percentage (and number) of children (5–17 years) who frequently see friends
outside school.

Percentage (and number) of children who have a trusted adult who they can turn
to when they have a problem or crisis.

Percentage (and number) of children who have no contact with father.

Percentage (and number) of children who have no contact with mother.

Percentage (and number) of children who report feeling ‘safe and secure’.

Percentage (and number) of children who report feeling ‘at home’.

Percentage (and number) of children (5–17 years) who are participating in a
relationships
Children and young
people in out-ofhome care have safe
and stable home
environments
Children and young
people in out-ofhome care have a
strong and positive
connection to their
community and
culture
‘wide range’ of leisure activities both in and outside school.

Percentage (and number) of children who attend events or participate in groups
relevant to their culture.

Percentage (and number) of Aboriginal children placed with extended family or
other Aboriginal carer.

Percentage (and number) of Aboriginal children who have a finalised cultural
support plan.

Percentage (and number) of Aboriginal children who get enough opportunities to
participate in their own community events and activities

Percentage (and number) of Aboriginal children whose key worker is Aboriginal.
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