Thousands of children and young people across Australia can’t live safely at home. They need to be removed and placed into out-of-home care. The best models are typically kinship care and foster care. However, there are serious pressures on these models.

We’re seeing a large decrease in the number of people willing to become foster carers. And the children and young people needing out-of-home care, presenting with ever more complex needs and behaviours.

And with a decrease in the number of people becoming foster carers, the pressure on residential care is increasing.

So, Berry Street has found a program that cares for traumatised young people, and maximises their recovery, it’s called PIC - Professional Individualised Care.

Implementing PIC in Victoria, however, is not a simple exercise.

In this episode of Stories from Berry Street, Richelle Hunt speaks to James Stubbs, Director of Berry Street’s Northern Region, about what PIC could mean for Berry Street and the people in need of extra special care right now. She also talks to Jarrod Wheatley, CEO of PIC in NSW, who explains the success he’s had with the program and the challenges around rolling it out.

IMPORTANT STATISTICS

• Nationally, approximately 46,200 children were in out-of-home care at 30 June 2021 – a rate of 8 per 1,000 children, of these nearly 3,500 were in residential care. (https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/child-protection/child-protection-australia-2020-21/contents/out-of-home-care/how-many-children-were-in-out-of-home-care)

• According to the FCAV, there was a 26% drop in interested carers going through the accreditation process in 2023. This is coupled with more carers exiting the system (https://www.fcav.org.au/assets/docs/fcav-annual-report-2023.pdf)

• The total cost of protective intervention and OOHC services for children living in OOHC was $709 million in FY17-18 (https://www.berrystreet.org.au/uploads/main/Files/SVA-ResearchPaper-TheEconomicCaseForEarlyIntervention-2019.pdf)

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