Service providers will be called to tender for the ACT government's newly restructured strategy for care of children living out of home, as efforts to deal with increasing demand and fewer foster carers in the Canberra community begin.
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Non-government organisations will take over some provision of care previously provided by ACT Community Services Directorate officers as part of the new five-year-strategy, set to begin from the start of next year.
On Monday, Children and Young People Minister Mick Gentleman will invite agencies interested in tendering for the new system for foster and kinship care to an information session about the new model.
Under the new strategy released last week, priority will be given to providing children with one foster family throughout their childhood years, or return children to their parents as soon as possible.
Where children can't return home, officials will seek to finalise secure and permanent foster care or adoption options to provide stability.
Some children will receive ongoing financial support past the age of 18, including for emotional and practical assistance until the age of 21.
Carers will receive more training and support as part of a boost in funding, and children in the care of the ACT Government Community Services Directorate will receive trauma-informed care after the completion of an individualised care plan and assessment process.
"The new strategy represents a major change to the current system, fundamentally changing the way help is provided to carers and service providers to support vulnerable children and young people," Mr Gentleman said.
"We are establishing a continuum of care and giving service providers a far greater role in caring for children and young people.
"It is important for service providers to fully understand what will be expected of them and that is why this information session is important." Mr Gentleman said.
The first information session on the plan will take place on February 2 at Belconnen's Nature Conservation House, with a follow-up session planned at the same location on February 6.
Tenders for the new system are expected to be called for in February, with plans for full service implementation due to come into force from January 2016.
The strategy is designed to help children stay in their family units and will provide cultural advisers to assist with planning and implementation of care for some young people.
Tender documents released by the government described the new system as "a major departure from current practice".
Officials will seek to establish an "emphatically child-focused" system that provides a therapeutic, trauma-informed care system. Support spending will be moved in an attempt to prevent and minimise entries to care and to identify special needs behavioural concerns early.
The announcement came as 605 children were in ACT care. Data from 2012-13 showed 128 children were admitted to care and protection orders in the ACT.
Children from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds make up about 25 per cent of children in care in the ACT, described in the tender documents as "an over-representation".
The strategy will give focus to keeping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in their family and community groups where possible.
Boosted funding comes on top of annual ACT government budget allocations of about $31 million.
