Page 1160 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 May 2020
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In this instance, I do not believe that it would be appropriate to divert resources from other priority activities for the purposes of answering the Member's question.
Children and young people––residential care
(Question No 2968)
Mrs Kikkert asked the Minister for Children, Youth and Families, upon notice, on 3 April 2020:
(1) How many residential care homes providing out-of-home care are currently operating in the ACT.
(2) How many of these homes typically have (a) a single youth worker and (b) two or more youth workers, rostered on at any one time.
(3) What factors determine if a residential care home will have a single staff member present or more than one staff member.
(4) Has the ratio of staff working in the Territory’s residential care homes increased, decreased, or remained the same since the withdrawal of Premier Youthworks from the ACT Together consortium.
Ms Stephen-Smith: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
1. As at 4 May 2020, Barnardos have a total of 27 properties available to them. 15 are used as residential care and 12 are used for the Community Adolescent Program (CAP) which is a step-down residential care program for 16 to 21-year-olds who are transitioning from out of home care. Currently a total of 4 properties are vacant (2 residential and 2 CAP). This means as at 4 May 2020 there are 13 residential care properties and 10 CAP residential properties running.
The number of residential care and CAP properties fluctuates depending on the number of young people requiring accommodation at the time, their individual needs and the suitability of matching young people in a particular property.
Mackillop Family Services has a total of one property in the ACT to support a specific young person in out of home care with highly complex needs. This property has a two (staff) to one (young person) arrangement in place.
2. Children and young people involved in the child protection system often have a history of trauma and as a result the number of staff required is assessed based on the individual needs of the child or young person in each property. The staffing model is not a static one.
a. Of the 13 residential care properties seven houses are single staffed. Staffing is increased and decreased based on the daily needs of the children and young people, and the mix, residing in the property and their individual needs.
Three of these residential properties currently have one to one staffing arrangements in place to respond to the complexity of the young people residing in those properties.
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