Target 12

Measures

• Number of First Nations children (0–17 years) in out-of-home care.


• Rate (per 1,000) of First Nations children (0–17 years) in out-of-home care, by sex and over time.


• Rate (per 1,000) of non-Indigenous children (0–17 years) in out-of-home care, over time.

Available by

Sex: males, females, persons.

Data period

• 2022


• Time trend data: 4-year period (2019 to 2022).

Data source

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) Child Protection National Minimum Dataset (CP NMDS) via the Productivity Commission website (PC 2023; AIHW 2023e).

Region types

Main structures: Australia, states and territories.

Suppression

Measure based on publicly available data with no further suppression rules applied.

Notes

• Numerator includes children in out-of-home care including where a financial payment was offered but declined by the carer.


• Relevant population is calculated from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population estimates and projections at 30 June of the reference period.


• 2019 (to 30 June) was the first year that a single nationally consistent definition of out-of-home care has been applied across all states and territories. Prior to this, reporting of out-of-home care was not nationally consistent, and therefore historical data are not provided for this target.


• Data by Indigenous status are influenced by the quality of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification of young people in the CP NMDS (not stated categories are reported separately in the data table).