Three projects are currently taking place to look at different aspects of the out of home care system across Australia. These projects are:

  1. Foster, kinship and permanent carer payments review (the Carers Review)

    A review of payments and financial supports for foster, kinship and permanent carers is taking place. The Carers Review is exploring the adequacy, consistency and accessibility of payments and financial supports for foster, kinship and permanent/guardian carers.

  2. A review of the Transition to Independent Living Allowance (TILA)

    TILA is a Commonwealth Government payment provided by the Department of Social Services to support eligible young people aged between 15 and 25 years who are leaving or have already left formal or court-ordered out-of-home care to transition to independent living. Not all eligible care leavers apply for or receive TILA. The purpose of the review is to understand what impacts young people’s access to the allowance, and to identify strategies to increase care leavers’ use of TILA.

  3. Refresh of the National Out-of-Home Care Standards (National Standards)

The National Standards are the first nationally implemented standards focused on the care of children and young people in out of home care. They were developed to promote consistency between states and territories and continue improving service delivery. The National Standards include 13 standards and principles which have not been updated since their release in 2011. Consultation is taking place to inform an update.

Get involved

A limited number of consultation workshops will take place in all Australian states and territories for each of these projects. The workshops will be run by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS).

As carers, your views and experiences will be essential for helping AIFS to recommend improvements to carer payments, TILA, and the National Standards that meet the needs of carers and the children and young people you care for.

To register your interest in attending one of the consultation workshops for carers, please provide your details here.

Background

The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) has been commissioned by the Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS) to undertake these projects under the Safe and Supported: First Action Plan 2023-2026, which sits under Safe and Supported, the National Framework for protecting Australia’s Children.

For the National Standards project, AIFS is also partnering with SNAICC– National Voice for our Children.

Need further information

More information is available about each project on the AIFS website: https://aifs.gov.au/projects/study/safe-and-supported

If you would like to ask questions about any of the three projects, please contact the relevant AIFS project team: