Out-of-home care is provided to children or young people who cannot live with their own families. In NSW, it is provided by the Department of Communities and Justice, as well as by non-government providers including Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs).
IPART is currently reviewing the cost of delivering out-of-home care and the pricing arrangements with the non-government providers who deliver care under contract with the NSW Government. We are also looking at the allowance foster carers, relatives and kinship carers receive to meet the costs of providing care and support to children and young people.
We released a Draft Report in March covering our draft decisions, draft recommendations and supporting analysis for feedback from stakeholders. We have now published the non-confidential submissions we received.
We held a public workshop on 1 May, and separate targeted workshops with non-government providers and ACCOs on 29 April. The summaries and presentation slides from these workshops are now available.
We greatly appreciate the ongoing engagement with stakeholders who have been willing to share their experiences and information with us. We are currently considering the valuable feedback we received in submissions, workshops and throughout the review as we work towards our Final Report to be submitted to the Minister for Families and Communities in early July.