❓ Hon Tjorn Sibma asks about applications and approvals for various child care arrangements, broken down by applicant demographics. The Minister's response indicates data limitations and inability to provide specific historical data or reasons for application denials based on applicant demographics.
AnsweredQoN 2036Legislative Council
Asked
20 March 2019
Member
Portfolio
Child Protection; Women's Interests; Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence; Community Services
QuestionView source ↗
For each of the last five calendar years 2014 - 2018 (inclusive), can the Minister please advise: (a) the number of applications for temporary foster care,
protection orders (special guardianship), adoption, and any other formal
care arrangements, and the number of applications which were approved by the
department; (b) the number of applications for categories of care arrangements (which were subsequently approved by the department) which originated from the following groups of people: (i) male-female couples; (ii) same-sex female couples; (iii) same-sex male couples; (iv) single adult females; and (v) single adult males; and (c) the reasons why any such applications for care arrangements submitted by the groups of people (i-v) listed above were not approved by the
department?
protection orders (special guardianship), adoption, and any other formal
care arrangements, and the number of applications which were approved by the
department; (b) the number of applications for categories of care arrangements (which were subsequently approved by the department) which originated from the following groups of people: (i) male-female couples; (ii) same-sex female couples; (iii) same-sex male couples; (iv) single adult females; and (v) single adult males; and (c) the reasons why any such applications for care arrangements submitted by the groups of people (i-v) listed above were not approved by the
department?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
7 May 2019
Responded by
Leader of the House representing the Minister for Child Protection; Women's Interests; Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence; Community Services
Response time
8 days
(a) It is unclear from the question as to whether the Member is requesting to know how many people apply and/or how many people are approved as foster carers and/or how many children are involved in each category. If the Member has a question about a particular issue I would encourage him to ask a specific question and I will endeavour to answer it.
(b) The Department of Communities (Communities) can only report a breakdown of the current carer, adoption applicant and special guardianship order household composition on a specified date. Information as at 4 April 2019 is provided below.
Gender and age of foster carer householders is reportable but relationships are not and cannot necessarily be assumed. For example, a household comprised of two adult males may be a same sex couple or may be a single adult male residing with a close male relative. Relationship status is documented on individual case files and it would impose a significant administrative burden on Communities to source this data.
(i) On 4 April 2019 there were 1,388 family foster carer households with the following composition:
(ii) On 4 April 2019 there were 973 general foster carer households (648 managed by Communities and 325 managed through community sector organisations) with the following composition:
(iii) On 4 April 2019 there were 61 local and inter-country adoption applicants with the following composition:
(iv) On 4 April 2019 there were 760 children on special guardianship orders with the following composition:
(c) Communities does not collect data about reasons why applications for care are not approved, by the criteria defined at part (b) (i) – (v).
(b) The Department of Communities (Communities) can only report a breakdown of the current carer, adoption applicant and special guardianship order household composition on a specified date. Information as at 4 April 2019 is provided below.
Gender and age of foster carer householders is reportable but relationships are not and cannot necessarily be assumed. For example, a household comprised of two adult males may be a same sex couple or may be a single adult male residing with a close male relative. Relationship status is documented on individual case files and it would impose a significant administrative burden on Communities to source this data.
(i) On 4 April 2019 there were 1,388 family foster carer households with the following composition:
(ii) On 4 April 2019 there were 973 general foster carer households (648 managed by Communities and 325 managed through community sector organisations) with the following composition:
(iii) On 4 April 2019 there were 61 local and inter-country adoption applicants with the following composition:
(iv) On 4 April 2019 there were 760 children on special guardianship orders with the following composition:
(c) Communities does not collect data about reasons why applications for care are not approved, by the criteria defined at part (b) (i) – (v).
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.