The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released the latest bulletin on the statistics of children admitted to out-of-home-care. The bulletin shows that infants aged under 1 year and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children across all age groups were over-represented in admissions, and that over half of those admitted in 2014-15 were still living in out-of-home-care in June 2016. Among more positive findings are that 4 in 5 children were discharged within 12 months, and that nearly half were subject to only 1 unique care arrangement, with most in home-based care. In accordance with policy preferences, the rate of Indigenous children in relative or kinship care rose from 36 per cent to 50 per cent by June 2016. Listen to the ABC AM story about the release of this report featuring Muriel Bamblett, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency and PeakCare’s Lindsay Wegener.
