Children in care

Children in care

Children in out-of-home care (OOHC) whose disabilities are identified early have an improved chance of succeeding in their placements with better health, cognitive ability and socio-emotional wellbeing.

Improved channelling of resources and supports specific to a child’s needs is the result of research focusing on better identifying and addressing disability, overcoming previous gaps in services for children who can’t live at home.

This research, by Professor Zhiming Cheng from the Department of Management has led to more comprehensive training for child service workers, and improved identification of children with disabilities so their placements are less likely to break down.

For children with unidentified disabilities, behavioural issues are often the first manifestation after a placement is made. If this contributes to a breakdown of that placement, then it disrupts hope for stability in the child’s living situation.

Children with disability are disproportionately represented in out-of-home care settings, such as foster care, both in Australia and internationally. However, there are gaps in understanding of their circumstances, placement types, support needs, and the outcomes of their trajectories and wellbeing in care.

While the research focused on the wellbeing and outcomes of children with and without disabilities in out-of-home care in New South Wales, it has contributed to improvements in the practices and training of staff working with the out-of-home care system at both state and Commonwealth level.

By identifying children with disabilities, their unique challenges can be addressed.

“When children get tailored support and interventions, their wellbeing and overall outcomes improve,” Professor Cheng says.

“Spotting disabilities early means we can prevent stigma, bullying, and trauma so children receive more effective care."

“Enhanced training and practices underpin more effective care, and comprehensive training for child services workers means placements are more likely to succeed."

“This reduces disruption and promotes stability in the child’s living situation,” he says.

Australia is a leader in providing services to children in care, so the policy and practice improvements from this research will have long-term and wide-ranging benefits for children in other countries too. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says children with disability are entitled to support and services tailored to their needs and the right to make decisions about their care.

For now, this research has significantly informed NSW and Commonwealth policy through three key policy implementations:

• Caseworker Learning Resources: Development of resources to enhance caseworkers’ capabilities in understanding, identifying, and working with people with disability. This includes making reasonable adjustments and navigating the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to support care leavers transitioning to adult disability services.
• Review of the OOHC Health Pathway Program: This ensures that children in OOHC receive timely and age-appropriate health assessments, interventions, monitoring, and reviews, with a focus on disability-related support needs.
• National Disability Data Asset (NDDA): Collaboration with the Commonwealth and other jurisdictions to develop the NDDA better understand the life experiences and outcomes of people with disabilities in Australia.

Published in the journal Child Abuse and Neglect, the analysis examined the wellbeing and outcomes of children with and without disabilities in OOHC and uses data from the Pathways of Care Longitudinal Study (POCLS), which includes children who entered OOHC in New South Wales between 2010 and 2011.

While the study found that children with disabilities generally have poorer wellbeing compared to their non-disabled peers across physical health, socio-emotional wellbeing, and cognitive ability, it also found children with disabilities showed fewer difficulties at school and better school bonding.

The type of placement for the child (eg kinship care, foster care, residential care) had little impact on their wellbeing, suggesting that their disability status was a more significant factor, and underpins the need for sustained tailored support and interventions to improve the child’s wellbeing when in OOHC.