Cost of children in state care soars to average $115,000 per child, nearly double what it was nine years ago

The annual cost of housing and providing for thousands of children in state care has soared to an average $115,000 per child — as the time it takes to investigate abuse cases has blown out.

The annual cost of housing and providing for thousands of children in state care has soared to an average $115,000 per child or $327 a night — as the time it takes to investigate abuse cases has blown out.

New figures show that caring for the most troubled children, who reside in state-run homes or emergency accommodation, costs more than $540,000 per child a year — double the cost to taxpayers nine years ago.

The latest Report on Government Services child protection data, released today, reveals authorities are taking longer to complete investigations into reports of suspected child abuse or neglect.

Child Protection Minister Rachel Sanderson in Parliament. Picture: AAP / Brenton Edwards

The proportion of probes by child protection officers which take more than three months to complete, has risen from about 9 per cent in 2009-10 to almost 47 per cent in the past financial year.

In contrast, investigations completed within 28 days have plummeted from 58.6 per cent to 12.7 per cent over the same period.

Authorities have acted with greater urgency to launch investigations, opening 80 per cent of cases within a week of a report.

Child Protection Department chief executive Cathy Taylor said investigations could be delayed by waiting on advice or information from other agencies or the difficulties of working with families who “experience adversity and vulnerability”.

She said sometimes new allegations were received during the investigation process meaning “the overall investigation can take longer”.

Ms Taylor promised recent changes to the department’s IT system would “streamline processes” to ensure investigations were “closed in a more timely way”.

Child Protection Department chief executive Cathy Taylor. Picture: Matt Loxton

She said the cost of housing children in state care was “driven by” growth in numbers and the proportion of children needing to live with paid staff, rather than foster families.

“We need more people in South Australia to volunteer to become foster carers,” she said.

There are almost 3800 children in state care with the vast majority (3246) living with relatives or foster families.

Another 425 live in state-run homes and 74 in emergency accommodation, such as rented apartments, supervised by paid carers working rotating shifts. The average $327 cost of housing each child in state care each night has risen from $168 in 2009-10.

Child Protection Party secretary Nadia Bergineti said it “would make much more sense” to shift resources to better train and support foster carers so that placements of children in their care did not break down.

In these cases a child was often moved to a more expensive state-run home, she said

Child Protection Minister Rachel Sanderson said since coming to power the Government had “spent a lot of time nurturing and improving our relationships with our hardworking and selfless carers”.

Ms Sanderson said the Government had hired an extra 36 frontline staff since broadening the accepted qualifications for applicants to child protection roles — and the data provides an useful benchmark for accountability into the future.

What it costs across a year

For a child living in state-run home or emergency accommodation

2009-10: $267,344

2017-18: $540,639

With foster families or relatives

2009-10: $41,059

2017-18: $48,985

In all forms of state care

2009-10: $61,371

2017-18: $115,025

Average cost per night

2013-14: $198

2017-18: $327

Number of nights

2013-14: 953,048

2017-18: 1,301,382

Investigating suspected abuse or neglect

Proportion of investigations which take more than 90 days

2009-10: 9.2 per cent

2017-18: 46.8 per cent

Less than 28 days

2009-10: 58.6%

2017-18: 12.7%

Source: Report on Government Services 2019

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