Out-of-home care monitoring program

Out-of-home care is overnight care for children and young people under 18 who can’t live with their families due to a range of child safety concerns, including having lost their parents.

Each night, about 1,100 Tasmanian children and young people are in care. That is about 1 in every 100 (1%) children under the age of 18 across the state.

The Commissioner conducts systemic monitoring of Tasmania’s out-of-home care system. The aim of systemic monitoring is to ensure that systems work in ways that uphold the rights of Tasmanian children and young people in out-of-home care.

The legislative role of the Commissioner does not include handling individual complaints or advocating for individual children and young people in care.

Former Commissioner for Children and Young People Leanne McLean conducted an own motion investigation into the introduction of a new Out-of-Home Care case management model that changed the allocation of Child Safety Officers for children and young people in care in Tasmania.

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The following documents are the monitoring programs publications:

An OOHC Expert Panel provides advice to the Commissioner and CCYP team about the monitoring program. The panel is chaired by the Commissioner and has the following members:

  • Professor Sharon Bessell, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
  • Professor Daryl Higgins, Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic University
  • Professor John Tobin, Melbourne Law School, Melbourne University
  • Dr Greet Peersman, Independent Senior Evaluation Consultant
  • Professor Kitty te Riele, Peter Underwood Centre, University of Tasmania

If you have a complaint, have a comment or are seeking a review of a decision made by Child Safety and Youth Justice Services including out-of-home care, you can contact the

Department for Education, Children and Young People. Visit their website for further information:

Complaints – Child Safety and Youth Justice Services – The Department for Education, Children and Young People Tasmania (decyp.tas.gov.au)

If you are worried about the rights of a child in care not being upheld (including your own if you are living in out-of-home care), you can contact the Child Advocate for Out of Home Care by email at child.advocate@communities.tas.gov.au or phone 0419 970 181 or 1800 549 725.

If your comment or concern is about the out-of-home care system generally, you can contact our office. See more information, below, for details.

Contact the office to find out more about the Out-of-Home Care Monitoring Program:

Email:​ childcomm@childcomm.tas.gov.au

Telephone:​ (03) 6166 1366