Report on Government Services 2021

Nationally, 48 886 children aged 0–17 years were the subject of a substantiation in 2019-20.

Nationally, at 30 June 2020:

• 60 903 children aged 0–17 years were on care and protection orders, 23 344 of whom were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
• 45 996 children were in out-of-home care, 18 862 of whom were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
• 9677 children were in other supported placements, 2719 of whom were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

Total recurrent expenditure on child protection intervention, care services (out-of-home care and other supported placements), family support services and intensive family support services was $6.9 billion nationally in 2019‑20 — a real increase of 4.7 per cent from 2018‑19.

Child protection services provide supports and interventions to promote child and family wellbeing, and to protect children and young people aged 0‑17 years who are at risk of abuse and neglect within their families, or whose families do not have the capacity to provide care and protection.

To achieve these aims, governments seek to provide child protection services that:

• are responsive, ensuring that notifications are responded to, and investigations are completed, in a timely and appropriate manner
• are targeted to children and young people who are at greatest risk
• support and strengthen families so that children can live in a safe and stable family environment
• provide quality care for children and young people aged 0–17 years who cannot live with their parents for reasons of safety or family crisis, with an emphasis on safety, stability and permanency in children's living arrangements
• meet the needs of individual children and young people in the child protection system.

Governments aim for child protection services to meet these objectives in an equitable and efficient manner.

The performance indicator framework provides information on equity, efficiency and effectiveness, and distinguishes the outputs and outcomes of child protection services. The performance indicator framework shows which data are complete and comparable in this Report.

An overview of the Child protection services performance indicator results are presented. Information to assist the interpretation of these data can be found in the indicator interpretation boxes in the Child protection services section and data tables.

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Notes

These data and caveats for these data are available in section 16 and relevant data tables.

na Not available. .. Not applicable. – Nil or rounded to zero.

Performance indicator data for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this section are available in the data tables listed below. Contextual data and further supporting information can be found in the section.