191. Data gaps relating to outcomes for children in or having left child
protection services should be considered as part of the national children’s
data framework referred to in Recommendation 10 above.
192. Despite the numerous inquiries in Australia, there has been little systemic
change to address the increasing rates of children involved in the child
protection system or to address the reasons why children are being placed
in out-of-home care.
193. A review of the NSW out-of-home care system commissioned by the NSW
Government published in 2018 concluded that:
Overall, the system is ineffective and unsustainable. Expenditure is
directed to an ad hoc collection of programs developed and delivered
within agency silos that are not focused on achieving shared objectives,
including the priority to prevent children and young people entering the
child protection or OOHC system. Programs across government are not
adequately tailored to meet the needs of children and families with
multiple needs, contributing to poor long-term outcomes across a range
of wellbeing domains, child protection and OOHC intervention, and
devastating cycles of intergenerational abuse and neglect. Ineffective
responses for families with multiple needs has resulted in more children
in OOHC and a crisis oriented system in which expenditure is
concentrated on OOHC rather than targeted intervention to prevent
OOHC entries.168
194. The NT Royal Commission, in 2017, argued that:
life opportunities are compromised by a complex layering of pervasive
disadvantage, poverty, overcrowding, poor parenting, mental health
issues, substance misuse, and family or community violence. For
Aboriginal children, this adversity is compounded by intergenerational
trauma, an erosion of culture, and a lack of access to early support.169
195. The national cost of operating child protection systems confirms that
Australia’s jurisdictions are predominately focusing on tertiary services
rather than preventative and early intervention services.170 The Report on
Government Services 2018 indicated that:
Total recurrent expenditure on family support services, intensive family
support services, protective intervention services and out-of-home care
services was $5.2 billion nationally in 2016–17 (a real increase of 8.5%
from 2015–16) of which out-of-home care services accounted for the
majority (59.5% or $3.1 billion).171
196. While Australia must protect those already in its child protection systems
and seek to end intergenerational disadvantage, it also must urgently
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