Hon Nick Goiran questions the Minister for Child Protection regarding the placement of children in care and the number of approved carers, revealing that a significant number of approved carers do not currently have children placed with them.

AnsweredQoN 373Legislative Assembly
Asked
19 June 2025
Portfolio
Child Protection

QuestionView source ↗

Communities—Home care services
373. Hon Nick Goiran to
the minister representing the Minister for Child Protection:
I refer to the answer
to question without notice 317, asked on 17 June 2025, in which the minister informed
the house that as at 31 May 2025, of the 5,290 children in the care of the CEO,
1,178 were in a variety of placement types.
(1) Where were the remaining 4,112 being
accommodated?
(2) How many carers are currently approved to
provide care in our state?
(3) Are any of these approved carers not currently
caring for one of the 5,290 children in the care of the CEO?
(4) If yes to (3), how many do not currently have
a child in the care of the CEO placed with them?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the
honourable member for some notice of the question. The following response has
been provided by the Minister for Child Protection.
The Department of
Communities advises the following.
(1) As of 31 May 2025, 4,112 children were placed
with approved departmental foster carers, approved community organisation
foster carers or approved departmental family carers.
(2) As of 31 May 2025, there were 3,279 carer
households approved to provide care.
(3) Yes.
(4) As of 31 May 2025,
there were 928 carer households that did not have a child placed with them. Not
all carer households will have children placed for a range of reasons,
including approved carer households that provide short-break and emergency care
or carer households that may be in between placements.

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