We are changing how we provide support and services in the ACT to improve outcomes for children, young people and families.

This ambitious plan for reform is set out in Next Steps for Our Kids 2022-2030 (Next Steps), the ACT’s strategy to strengthen families and keep children and young people safe.

The vision for Next Steps is for children and young people in the ACT to be safe, strong, connected and living their best life.

Essential to achieving this vision is ongoing collaboration with stakeholders. The insights and advice from people with lived and living experience continue to inform implementation progress.

This ambitious 8 year plan for reform is set out in (Next Steps), the ACT’s strategy to strengthen families and keep children and young people safe.

Next Steps seeks improved outcomes in 6 areas of focus:

1. Our Booris, Our Way - addressing over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in our statutory services
2. Trust and transparency - improving decision making, engagement and transparency
3. Strengthening families - providing earlier support for families when they need it
4. Trauma responsive and restorative practice - working in a restorative way for better outcomes
5. Partnering with the community - ensuring a joined-up system of child, youth and family services
6. Building a Continuum of Support - working together to ensure supports wrap around children and young people for smoother life transitions.

This plan was developed based on extensive consultation with people who have lived experience of child protection. This consultation included:

• Children and Family Services Reform Forum in March 2021
• Hearing from people on their experiences of child protection and out of home care as documented in the Stage One Listening Report -released in August 2021
• Hearing from people with a focus on how diverse communities experience child protection and out of home care as documented in the Stage Two Listening Report - released in September 2021.

To develop the first 4-year Action Plan, we consulted with staff within the Community Services Directorate as well as targeted discussions with community sector partners.

Workshops were held at the Child and Family Services Reform Forum on 6 December 2022 focused on reform priorities over the next 4 years and to test and refine the draft Action Plan further.

An outline of the discussion that took place is available in the Communique - Child and Family Services Reform Forum (Dec 2022).

The reform of children and family services in the ACT builds on changes already achieved since 2015 in the ACT.

A Step Up for Our Kids 2015–2020 introduced reforms focused on:

• preventing children and young people from entering care
• reunifying children and young people with their birth parents as quickly as possible
• moving children and young people into permanent alternative family settings as quickly as possible when they could not go home safely.

Reform was delivered through a therapeutic trauma-informed service in the areas of:

• strengthening high risk families
• creating a continuum of care
• strengthening accountability to ensure a high functioning care system.

Evaluation of the data shows that we achieved notable change in the ACT out of home care system with an increase in the number of children, young people and families receiving specialist family support services, and a decrease in the number of children and young people entering out of home care.

However, we know significant challenges remain. There continues to be an over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people entering and living in out of home care. Gaps in educational and other life outcomes for children and young people living in and leaving out of home care also persist.

You can find out more about what we have achieved in the Post-Strategy Evaluation Stage 1 Report.