The Association of Child Welfare Agencies (ACWA) released a report providing a snapshot of the broad level of educational engagement of New South Wales students in out-of-home care. Through an online survey in week 3 of term 3, 23 services provided data about 2,581 children and young people (about 40% of school-aged children in care in NSW). Eleven survey respondents were subsequently interviewed to investigate practitioners’ experiences in interacting with the education system given that services hold case management responsibilities and interact directly with schools, rather than the statutory agency. Findings include 1 in 5 children were absent from school during the survey period, including more than 1 in 3 students living in residential care. Over 30% of students did not have an individual education plan, and around the same percentage of students were attending part time (14.5%) or were suspended (14.1%). ‘Chronic disengagement’ (eg. due to school or performance anxiety) accounted for over a third of students being absent in survey week.
