This paper describes the number of children entering and leaving care and time taken to reunification. It describes child and family factors that make it more or less likely that reunification will occur.

The safe reunification of children in out-of-home care with their families is the policy priority in every Australian state. However knowledge and research in this area is very limited. This summary outlines research on reunification success rates and the consequences of reunification failure.

This paper is part 3 in a series on reunification for children in out-of-home care. It describes selected research which has documented factors which predict reunification breakdowns and considers ways in which reunification decision-making can be improved.

This report focuses on recommendations to improve the blue card system, Queensland's term for working with children checks.

This review of Queensland’s foster care system identified some opportunities to build stakeholder and public confidence, strengthen carer assessment, approval and renewal processes, and strengthen safeguards for children in care.

Leaving home is a key part of the transition to adulthood. There is evidence in many countries, including Australia, that young people are remaining at home for longer. This paper explores this issue using Australian data, considers factors driving the trend, and implications for young...

Knowledge and research are very limited around services and supports which promote successful reunifications. Furthermore, assessments of effectiveness generally use ‘rate of reunification’ as their primary outcome measure and do not monitor program impact after children have been returned. Given the high level of reunification...

There is growing evidence that reunifying children with their birth families is often unsuccessful. UK figures suggest that around 30 percent of reunified children will return to care within five years. Insights from evaluations of successful reunification programs are needed to develop effective reunification practices...

This report presents results of the Growing Up in Queensland project that involved over 7,000 young people in Queensland aged 4–18 years. The project consulted children and young people about their everyday lives, priorities, concerns, and vision for their communities and futures.

The deaths of 446 children and young people were registered in 2013–14, representing a rate of 41.0 deaths per 100,000 population aged 0–17 years. Over the ten year period of data collection there has been a general reduction in the rates in the most recent...