People from out-of-home care backgrounds are largely absent from Australian higher education equity policy. Compared with the UK, Australia has moved slowly to consider legislative and programme incentives for young people who leave state, foster or kinship care and who wish to access higher education. One major reason for the relative inaction of…

A high prevalence of maltreatment, abuse, neglect and the onset of subsequent trauma has been well-documented among both young people with disability and young people residing in foster and kinship care. However, no uniform policies or guidelines currently exist for the delivery of trauma-informed models of care to build the capacity of foster and…

Australian and international research documents the limited access of young people transitioning from out-of-home care (OOHC) to further and higher education. This paper examines the processes, outcomes, and key findings of the Raising Expectations project, a collaborative university and industry approach to promote higher education among care…

This article reports on an exploratory study about maintaining and supporting the cultural identity of children from culturally and linguistically diverse family backgrounds in foster care placements. In this study, we spoke with foster carers and caseworkers who respectively live and work with children from culturally and linguistically diverse…

Although leaving statutory out-of-home care can be a challenging time for many young people, it is recognised that young people who have multiple or complex needs find this transition particularly difficult. This study aims to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by care leavers who have complex needs, as well as to identify some of…

Background: Challenging and disruptive behaviour is commonly reported among children placed in the out-of-home care sector. Little is known about how stakeholders in this sector understand or manage challenging behaviour. Method: Ninety-two stakeholders in the South Australian out-of-home care sector were interviewed about their approach to…

Outcomes measurement has become a contemporary requirement for non-profit, government, and private sector child, youth, and family service providers throughout North America as well as in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere. Cost-effectiveness, care planning, service evaluations, and fiscal audits are now commonplace…

The educational achievements of children in foster care have been determined to be below average in individual studies. In the present investigation, 31 studies were examined via four meta-analyses to answer questions regarding the educational status of children in out-of-home placements in multiple countries. Data analysis encompassed the…

Examined the implementation of "Looking After Children" materials in five Australian States and Territories. Found that few system changes were required for cultural reasons. Initial fears of increasing workloads were outweighed by positive responses from practitioners, caregivers, and youth with experience in the out-of-home care…

Examined issues raised by pilot implementations of "Looking After Children" materials in social-work agencies in England, Canada, Australia, and Sweden. Found that implementation required major organizational change and new values and attitudes toward children in out-of-home care. Difficulties arose when management and monitoring systems…

This paper is an account of, and reflection on, the author's six-month ethnographic study of a residential care home for severely traumatised and abused children in Australia. During the stay she designed and offered a short six-day course for the care staff and foster carers in the use of play for emotional and therapeutic support. Prior to this,…

It is generally accepted (for example, Stein and Wade) that those young people who are able to establish positive relationships with their family in care and/or when transitioning from care are more likely to have a positive self-identity and self-confidence, and overall better outcomes. Conversely, poor or non-existent family links may contribute…

Studies assess children's satisfaction with their current placement experiences in South Australian alternative care. Over 80 per cent of children reported being satisfied with both their case-worker and their placement, although children in residential care reported being less satisfied than their counterparts in foster care. (Contains 16…

A three-year-old boy, born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1892, lived the final months of his life in an abusive foster home. His death barely made a ripple in the press, and the system proved unable or unwilling to deal with much of the most disturbing evidence about the perpetrators of abuse. This article argues that cases like this one are more…

Protocols recently introduced by state education authorities require guidance and school counsellors to collaborate with other school personnel to develop Individual Education Support Plans for students in the care of the state. Of the more than 20,000 young people in care in Australia, the majority are in foster home placements due to previous…