There is growing concern in the child welfare sector with the quality of care being provided through Residential Care out-of-home care services. In Victoria, the recommended policy direction is to move away from standard Residential Care as much as possible (Auditor-General Victoria, 2014), largely because it is both expensive and largely seen as ineffective, or...

Presents data for 19 ‘process-of-care’ and ‘health outcomes’ indicators, which focus on the prevention and management of chronic disease and maternal and child health. Summary The New Directions: Mothers and Babies Services program, funded by the Australian Government, aims to increas access to, and use of, child and maternal healthcare services for Aboriginal and Torres...

Presents the latest data on adoptions of Australian children and children from overseas, and highlights important trends in the number of adoptions back to 1989–90. Summary Adoption numbers remained low The 317 adoptions considered to have been finalised in 2013-14 are the lowest annual number on record-a fall of 9% from the 348 adoptions in...

This report argues that mainstreaming revolution in Indigenous policy should be extended to Indigenous child protection policy, and that Aboriginal exceptionalism—typified by the operation of Aboriginal Child Placement Principle (ACPP)—must cease. To help ‘Close the Gap’ in social outcomes between Indigenous and other Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous children should be treated the same, including by...

This paper reviews the research and current policy surrounding prenatal alcohol exposure and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Alcohol use during pregnancy is linked to a spectrum of adverse fetal outcomes.