00:00These alternative care arrangements include places like hotels, motels and caravan parks.
00:08And they're supposed to be last resort temporary measures, but this report has found that most
00:13children are staying in these settings for more than three months, some even over 600
00:19days.
00:20And they've detailed in this report some of the conditions that they're living in.
00:24In one person that I spoke to who stayed in some of these settings back in 2016 said
00:30that his hotel setting was so unhygienic that he found cockroaches in his bed, that he wasn't
00:36receiving support from those who were there with him.
00:40Now, on that note, the report says that these children and young people are being supported
00:45by subcontractors, workers from labour hire companies.
00:50They're not actually, you know, qualified to be giving this support to young people.
00:56We did hear from the New South Wales Advocate for Young People and Children who led this
01:00inquiry.
01:01As you mentioned, here's what she had to say.
01:03Heard from a number of children, young people who were moved consistently into different
01:07hotels, but also not knowing when they might return home or when they might have a stable
01:12placement.
01:13We also heard about a number of children, young people who had been disconnected with
01:15education, didn't have access to their health supports and weren't connected to their family
01:20and their friends.
01:21And we also heard about the fact that they felt not safe in these arrangements.
01:25Well, there were four main recommendations in this report.
01:28The first one was that these arrangements cease to exist.
01:33Also to ensure that there's more training so that these young people are being met with
01:38trauma informed responses, more around data transparency, ensuring that those, that data
01:43around these young people is being shared across agencies, including health and education.
01:48They want a complaints mechanism and oversight mechanism.
01:52And also to ensure that there's more pay training and support for volunteer foster carers to
01:57ensure that there is, you know, better care and also so that more people are being attracted
02:04to the sector.
02:05Now, we did also hear from the Minister for Families and Communities, Kate Washington.
02:11She says that this confirms what she's been saying, that the child protection system is
02:16broken and needs more reform and that while there is a decrease in the amount of young
02:21people that are living in these arrangements, more work needs to be done.
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