Report on Government Services 2025

Child protection services provide support and intervention to promote child and family wellbeing, and to protect children and young people aged 0–⁠17 years who are at risk of abuse and neglect, or whose families do not have the capacity to provide care and protection.

Figure 16.1 is a simplified representation of the child protection services system, depicting common pathways through the system and referrals to support services.

Figure 16.1 The child protection services system ^{a, b, c, d, e}

a Dashed lines indicate that clients may or may not receive these services, depending on need, service availability, and client willingness to participate in voluntary services. b Support services include family preservation and reunification services provided by government and other agencies. c Green shading indicates data is reported. d Services differ across jurisdictions. e AG = Activity Group. Refer to the 'Explanatory material' tab for detailed definitions.

Source: State and territory governments (unpublished).

State and territory governments have responsibility for funding and/or providing child protection services in Australia. Each jurisdiction has its own legislation that defines ‘a child in need of protection’ and determines the policies and practices of its child protection system. While this legislation varies in detail, its intent is similar across jurisdictions (table 16.1).

Other government services have a role in child protection, including:

• mandatory reporting responsibilities for particular occupations in some jurisdictions
• education and child care services, which in some jurisdictions includes education on protective behaviours
• health services and mental health services, which support the assessment of child protection matters and deliver general medical and dental services as well as therapeutic, counselling and other services
• police services, which investigate serious allegations of child abuse and neglect, particularly criminal matters, and may also work on child protection assessments
• courts, which decide whether a child will be placed on an order.

This section reports on services provided by state and territory governments to promote family wellbeing and to protect children, specifically: family support services; intensive family support services; protective intervention services and out‑of‑home care services (refer to 'Explanatory material' tab for definitions). Data is also included on expenditure by the Australian Government on intensive family support services.

Total recurrent expenditure on family support services, intensive family support services, protective intervention services, and care services (out‑of‑home‑care and other supported placements) was around $10.2 billion nationally in 2023‑24, a real increase of 6.6% from 2022‑23. In 2023‑24, care services accounted for 64.9%, or $6.6 billion, of the total recurrent expenditure (table 16A.8).

In 2023‑24, real recurrent expenditure on all child protection services per child aged 0–⁠17 years in the population was $1,765 nationally (figure 16.2).

Nationally, the following number of children aged 0–⁠17 years received protective intervention services and out‑of‑home‑care services during 2023‑24 (also reported as a rate per 1,000 children in the population) (tables 16A.1–4):

• 307,022 children were the subject of notifications; 53.1 notifications per 1,000 children
• 98,310 children were the subject of a finalised investigation; 17.0 finalised investigations per 1,000 children
• 42,120 children were the subject of a substantiation; 7.3 substantiations per 1,000 children
• 59,850 children were on care and protection orders at 30 June 2024; 10.3 children on care and protection orders per 1,000 children
• 44,866 children were in out‑of‑home care at 30 June 2024, 7.7 per 1,000 children aged 0–⁠17 years, with a further 10,791 children in other supported placements at 30 June 2024.
  • There were 55,267 children in out‑of‑home care at least once during 2023‑24; with 10,778 children admitted to, and 10,989 discharged from, out‑of‑home care during this period. Refer to 'Reporting on out‑of‑home care' (below) for information about the definition of out‑of‑home care used in this report.

Nationally in 2023‑24, around four in ten notifications (37.0%) resulted in an investigation; the remaining notifications were dealt with by other means, such as providing advice or referral to services. The proportion of notifications dealt with by other means varied significantly across jurisdictions (table 16A.5).

Nationally in 2023‑24, around one in four children (24.1%) admitted to a care and protection order had prior admissions to such orders, though this proportion varied across jurisdictions (table 16A.6). Nationally, at 30 June 2024, nearly all children (93.2%) in out‑of‑home care were on care and protection orders (tables 16A.2 and 16A.7).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are overrepresented in the child protection system (tables 16A.1–2 and 16A.35). For further details refer to the performance indicator ‘Disproportionality’ under the 'Indicator Results' tab.

Population data on children aged 0–⁠17 years by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status from December 2017 to 2023 and June 2017 to 2024 is available in table 16A.42.

Reporting on out‑of‑home care

To improve the comparability of out‑of‑home care data, particularly regarding children on third‑party parental responsibility orders, Children and Families Secretaries agreed in 2019 to narrow the scope of out‑of‑home care. The narrower scope is consistent with permanency reforms that consider children on third‑party parental responsibility orders as having transitioned from out‑of‑home care into a permanent and stable arrangement.

For national reporting, out‑of‑home care is defined as overnight care for children aged less than 18 years who were unable to live with their families due to child safety concerns. This includes:

• placements approved by the department responsible for child protection for which there is both ongoing case management and financial payment (including where a financial payment has been offered but has been declined by the carer)
• legal (court ordered) and voluntary placements and placements made for the purposes of providing respite for parents or carers.

Data from 2018‑⁠19 onwards is reported according to the updated national definition. Other living arrangements that were previously included in the scope of out‑of‑home care are now reported as ‘other supported placements’. Supplementary data on the number of children in care according to the previous definition (that is, out‑of‑home care or other supported placements) is reported in data tables (where available) until 2018‑⁠19.

Reporting against this narrower scope has resulted in some jurisdictions reporting fewer children in out‑of‑home care from 2018‑⁠19 onwards compared to earlier years. The most significant difference relates to the exclusion of children in third‑party parental responsibility arrangements, although some jurisdictions were already excluding these children from national reporting on out‑of‑home care (Victoria from 2017‑⁠18, New South Wales from 2014–⁠15, and Western Australia for all years).