The Pathways of Care Longitudinal Study (POCLS) is funded and managed by the New South Wales Department of Family and Community Services (FACS). It is the first large-scale prospective longitudinal study of children and young people in out-of-home care (OOHC) in Australia. Information on safety, permanency and wellbeing is being collected from various sources. The child developmental domains of interest are physical health, socio-emotional wellbeing and cognitive/learning ability.

This statistical report provides a summary of the data collected on leaving care in the child, carer and caseworker surveys conducted as part of the POCLS. The purpose of this report is to provide a useful reference point for policy officers, frontline workers and researchers interested in young people leaving care. This analysis focuses on young people in the POCLS who were in either Wave 2 or Wave 3 of the Study, and aged 15-17 years old at the time of interview. The young people who participated in the survey entered OOHC for the first time during middle childhood therefore are not representative of all young people leaving care. These young people are referred to in this report as the leaving care cohort.