Foster Care

In reply to Ms SANDERSON (Adelaide) (29 July 2016). (Estimates Committee A)

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for Higher Education and Skills): I have been advised of the following:

Counting carer households rather than individual carers gives the most accurate picture of the foster care sector. This is because carer households are matched to placements and it is the registration of the household which includes the number of children a household can place.

The number of new foster and specific child only carer households for the financial year ending 30 June 2016 was 149. This includes existing carer households where the registration status has changed for the household.

The number of primary foster and specific child only carer households that left the system during the financial year ending 30 June 2016 was 180. This includes approximately 100 carer registrations being cancelled due to the carer being inactive, which was the result of an audit conducted in relation to carer registration during the 2015-16 financial year.

The total number of foster and specific child only carer households registered for the year ending 30 June 2014 was 1,413, for the year ending 30 June 2015 it was 1,385 and for the year ending 30 June 2016 it was 1,359. Data for 2014 and 2015 includes inactive carers, removed as part of the 2015-16 audit.