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New report reveals NSW out-of-home care system under immense strain

Menchie Khairuddin February 28, 2023

4 min read

Australian Childhood Foundation calls on all parties contesting the next New South Wales election to commit vital resources to its specialist trauma counselling program – OurSPACE – to help achieve stability for some of the most vulnerable children and young people in state care.

A report released by the Foundation has revealed that 74 per cent of children referred to its specialist trauma counselling program across NSW have experienced up to eight placement breakdowns since they came into care. Another 17 per cent had been through more than nine different placements. Almost 8 in 10 of these children had lived in their current placement for less than 12 months.

The Foundation’s research tracked a sample of the 300 children, young people and their carers who received specialist trauma counselling through the Foundation’s OurSPACE NSW therapeutic program funded by the Department of Communities and Justice.

“The system is retraumatizing the very children it is designed to protect and care for,” said Dr Joe Tucci, Australian Childhood Foundation CEO.

OurSPACE has become an integral part of the service network in the state since its inception in 2018 and now has a caseload of 255 children at any time and an average waitlist of over 70 children.

“Too many children face high levels of instability and are not experiencing the permanency that they desperately need and are entitled to. The lessons from previous inquiries have not been learnt.”

In the lead-up to the state election, Dr Joe Tucci, calls on both Liberal and Labor parties to commit significant resources to make specialist trauma services available to more children and their carers as part of reforms that need to be implemented to give these children greater stability in their lives.

“OurSPACE has demonstrated the greater impact the program and services has on our community yet it is still only available to a few hundred children each year. There are at least 3,000 children who desperately need the same level of support but cannot access it because of a lack of government funds,” added Dr Tucci.

“Children who have experienced violence at such an early age suffer extensive long-term consequences. They sense threat all the time. It ruins their capacity to trust others. They do not look at adults as sources of care. They experience them as sources of danger. The trauma makes them more complex to look after and many of them have long histories of placement instability, which further compounds the impact of the trauma,” he added.

“Moving from one home to another, from one family to another creates a downwards spiral of adversity for these children. They already experienced danger on a daily basis. Add to this, the experience of constant uncertainty and these children struggle to form and maintain relationships. They come to think that the placement breakdowns are their fault. They believe that they are damaged and cannot be helped by anyone. Soon, they just give up. This is when they are most at risk of being exploited because they feel worthless, or suicidal because they have lost hope, or pushed into drugs or alcohol so that they can escape their pain”, said Dr Tucci.

The results of the Foundation’s research demonstrated that the most traumatised and vulnerable children and young people fared the most poorly in the child protection and out-of-home care system.

A significant proportion of cases supported by the OurSPACE program had suffered from a range of serious developmental and mental health problems including poor peer relationships (86 per cent), anxiety (84 per cent)) sleep deprivation (84 per cent) and poor self-esteem (83 per cent). While almost half of the children and young people had been diagnosed with developmental delays and are failing to thrive early in their life.

The research also revealed more than half of the children and young people experienced poor educational trajectories, falling significantly behind their peers academically. Almost one in two cases was reported as not attending school or having attended four or more schools in the past 12 months.

“The experience of constant uncertainty and these children struggle to form and maintain relationships. They come to think that the placement breakdowns are their fault. They believe that they are damaged and cannot be helped by anyone.”

Dr Tucci highlighted the effectiveness of the OurSPACE program in turning around the trajectory of these children and young people.

Once accepted into the therapeutic program, they experienced many benefits including a significant reduction in the experience of trauma symptoms (79 per cent), a reduction in criminal activity (84 per cent) and increased placement stability (92 per cent).

As reflected in the research findings, the OurSPACE program also improved education outcomes for children and young people.

Overwhelmingly, 92 per cent of children and young people in the program showed a direct increase in engagement in school or vocational learning, including an increase in school attendance. Only 6 per cent of children and young people remain disengaged from the education system.

OurSPACE draws from the extensive 20 years of experience of the Australian Childhood Foundation in the delivery of evidence-based therapeutic foster and kinship care programs program and specialises in trauma therapeutic service.

The program is delivered statewide. However, demand is particularly high in Lismore, Coffs Harbour, Central Coast, Wollongong, Bathurst/Orange, Nowra, Narrabri, Dubbo and Tamworth.

Menchie Khairuddin

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Menchie Khairuddin is a writer Deputy Content Manager at Akolade and content producer for Third Sector News. She is passionate about social affairs specifically in mixed, multicultural heritage and not-for-profit organisations.