Dozens of at-risk kids living alone in hotels and motels as foster care spots dry up

A lack of foster carers plus organisations refusing to take kids with complex needs has left children in ‘temporary’ care accommodation like motels for more than a year.

Anna Cole says an individual travel program changed her life after she was taken into care.

About 75 children taken into care are holed up in hotels, motels and serviced apartments across the state, with a lack of foster carers and NGOs refusing to take them blamed for the situation.

Another estimated 330 children are under supervision in other temporary emergency care arrangements, such as rental properties and group homes, with the total cost to the taxpayer estimated to be about $200 million a year.

The children have ended up in emergency arrangements after being removed from their families by police or the Department of Communities and Justice for their own safety.

But instead of these 405 children being placed with a foster family, they are sometimes for more than a year in what should only be temporary accommodation.

While all the children are being supervised around the clock, one industry source claimed the providers enlisted were in some cases unaccredited, without any specialised training or qualifications, while charging thousands of dollars a day.

A lack of foster care placements is leaving children in care without a permanent place to stay.

The source said a key factor leading to children ending up in hotels, motels and other temporary accommodation was that the department no longer had a “bank” of foster carers.

A statewide shortage of foster carers was also being exacerbated by a reluctance from NGOs to take on children with complex needs.

The NGO sector works with the department to help place children taken into care into foster or group homes.

However, it is understood some NGO service providers are refusing to provide placements for children with complex needs, especially if the child is deemed to pose a behavioural risk to others.

This has led to the department having to pay private providers to sort alternative accommodation and supervision staff.

The length of stay for children currently in so-called alternative care arrangements is between three to 470 days, with the average being 118 days.

Families and Communities Minister Kate Washington declared the situation “unacceptable”.

“These are vulnerable children in awful situations, through no fault of their own. They deserve to be safe and well. Motels are not a sustainable solution,” she said.

“The former government set up a system that increasingly steers children in need of protection into motel rooms. It’s unbelievably expensive, and it’s achieving terrible outcomes for these young people.

“I’m incredibly concerned about the impact this is having on vulnerable children and young people. Some of the kids have complex needs, but many don’t.

“The problem is finding a service that will take them, to avoid emergency arrangements.”

Ms Washington said she took her new role “very seriously” and declared the system “needed to change.”

A department spokesman said it worked with NGO partners to ensure permanency for all children in out-of-home care through children remaining safely at home, “restoration, guardianship or adoption”.

Alternative care arrangements only occurred in emergency situations until a more suitable placement was identified, the spokesman said.

“When a young person is in an ACA they are supported to attend school, access healthcare and other services,” he said.

“They are seen by their caseworker regularly and supported by staff 24-7.”

He said more than 75 per cent of children in this type of care arrangement were in it for “less than 90 days”.

LOOKING AHEAD INSTEAD OF BACK

As a teenager Anna Cole longed for stability. Instead, she spent her life bouncing between foster and group homes, before being placed in a hotel room as a last resort.

She’s one of hundreds of kids who are routinely placed in alternative care arrangements, and she spent almost a month in the hotel when she was 16 where she was cared for by a revolving door of shift workers.

Though the now-18-year-old said she enjoyed the freedom of the hotel after traumatic experiences in foster care, she at times longed for connection.

Anna Cole, now 18, lived in a hotel while in foster care.

It’s a struggle Jarrod Wheatley, chief executive of Professional Individualised Care, knows all too well.

The leader of the not-for-profit organisation has been working with young Australians like Anna to help get them out of hotel accommodation and into alternative care options.

One of those options is personal travel projects, where young Australians like Anna are taken on a holiday with a carer for up to 12 weeks.

For Anna, this individual travel program changed her life. She was able to connect with care worker Joanna Gibson and travel around NSW for a month, before she was transitioned into a group home better suited to her needs.

“It changed me in a positive way,” Ms Cole said. “For the first time I kind of started looking forward instead of back.

“They knew that my life at home wasn’t that great. So they wanted me to feel a bit free.

“It really helped me a lot.”

Mr Wheatley is calling for the government to divert funding into programs like PIC, instead of last resorts like hotel accommodation.

“We are already spending the money … (with PIC) the government is able to not only access better outcomes for children, but it is actually cheaper for them,” he said.

“The system knows it needs a home based system, but there isn’t currently one available.

“What we are trying to do is step into that and give these young children a fundamentally different experience.”

— by EMILY KOWAL