This measure is defined as:

Numerator – number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 0–17 years in out‑of‑home care, at 30 June

Denominator – number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 0–17 years in the population, at 30 June

and is presented as a rate per 1,000 children.

Name (numerator all and denominator for data by disability status): Child Protection National Minimum Data Set (CP NMDS)

Frequency: Annual

Name (denominator): Estimates and Projections for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population

Frequency: Annual (data updated for all years in the March 2025 Dashboard update)

Documentation (links): AIHW - child-protection

ABS - Estimates and projections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Provider name (numerator): Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)

Provider area: Child protection

Provider name (denominator): Australian Bureau of Statistics

Provider area: Demography

State and territory and Australia, by Indigenous status.

State and territory and Australia, by Indigenous status, by sex.

State and territory and Australia, by Indigenous status, by age.

State and territory and Australia, by Indigenous status, by disability status.

Numerator divided by Denominator multiplied by 1,000.

Counting rules

Includes (numerator):

• Children in out‑of‑home care including where a financial payment was offered but declined by the carer.

Excludes (numerator):

• People for whom Indigenous status was not stated.

Denominator (excluding disability status):

• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is calculated from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population estimates and projections at 30 June of the reference period (medium series).
• The non-Indigenous population is calculated by subtracting the 30 June Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population from the 30 June total population (except for the most recent year, where the population at 31 March is used for the total population).

Numerator (disability status):

• The number of children with disability in out‑of‑home care at 30 June.

Denominator (disability status):

• Number of children aged 0–17 years in out-of-home care at 30 June.

Disaggregations:

• Sex relates to biological primary sexual characteristics, as reported by a person or as determined by an interviewer. Children classified as having an ‘indeterminate/not stated’ sex are excluded from the analysis by sex.
• Age is based on date of birth where known but can also be collect directly or estimated. Children with unknown age are excluded from the analysis by age.
• Disability is an indicator that a disability is experienced, and is recorded as yes (with disability), no (without disability) or not stated/inadequately described (disability status unknown). There are high proportions of children with ‘disability status unknown’ so these proportions are reported separately as part of the analysis. Disability is a multidimensional and complex concept and differences may exist across jurisdictions in how disability is defined. There are also differences in how information about disability is captured in jurisdictional processes and client information systems.

Supporting calculations

• Rate ratio.
• Rate difference. See the How to interpret the data page for further information.

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).

From 2022, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northen Territory have adopted a policy of suppressing numbers below five and AIHW has applied additional suppression. 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population rates reported for this target have been revised down compared to previous reporting on the dashboard. This follows from the release of 2021 Census-based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population data, which showed a substantial increase in the estimated population over the time series. Please refer to the How to interpret the data page for more information.

Comparisons of population rates should be used with caution. Increasing out-of-home care rates may reflect improving identification within administrative data, rather than changes in underlying out-of-home care rates. Please refer to the How to interpret the data page for more information.

Disaggregations:

• Disability status: data is reported as a proportion of children in out‑of‑home care by their disability status, providing a different measure to other reporting for this target. Caution should be used when comparing data by disability status. There are differences in how disability is captured across jurisdictions. There are also high proportions of children with ‘disability status unknown’. 

Future reporting will seek to include the following additional disaggregations:

• disability status calculated as a rate per 1,000 children in the population by disability status (as per the target measure).