The NSW government is abolishing the prohibitively expensive and outsourced practice of temporarily placing vulnerable children and young people with rotating caseworkers in hotels, motels and even caravan parks in emergency situations.Â
More appropriate and fit-for-purpose accommodation with an accredited provider will now be the norm after a targeted recruitment drive of foster carers to oversee more than 1000 children.
"For the first time in 20 years, there are no children living in unaccredited emergency accommodation tonight," Families and Communities Minister Kate Washington said on Thursday.
A damning report on alternative care accommodation by the Office of the NSW Advocate for Children and Young People in August 2024 cited a child who described their experience as "a dog being moved from cage to cage."
Another said they were sexually assaulted at the age of 12 in a hotel, while a third young person said they were left on their own "around like full-grown adults on drugs".
The advocate's report followed a special inquiry in 2023 that heard first-hand from those aged between 10 and 23 in hearings throughout NSW.
Ms Washington said besides the mental and physical safety afforded to the children, it is also more cost-effective with more than $2 million spent per child each year.
Nearly 140 children were living in the unaccredited arrangements up until a few months ago.
They have moved back to living with their parents, some have been placed with foster carers while others are living in intensive therapeutic care homes or specialist disability accommodation.
The minister implored more NSW families to pitch in to take care of children and young people who have fallen through the cracks.
"Hundreds of children remain in emergency accommodation simply because there aren't enough carers to meet the demand," she said.
"Every single foster carer in NSW changes the trajectory of a young person's life, and we desperately need more."
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