0

16 years

1. Each child is only counted once.
2. All children aged 0–16 who were reunified during the financial year are counted for this indicator.
3. Age is calculated at time of reunification.
4. A reunification is only counted if it is also an “exit” from care—that is, the child was not in care for at least 60 days following the reunification event.
5. If a child has more than one reunification in the reporting period only the latest reunification is counted.
6. Children returning to out-of-home care are children who begin a new episode of out-of-home care within 12 months of their reunification.
7. The rate ratio for this indicator is calculated by dividing the proportion of Indigenous children who were reunified during the reporting period that did not return to out-of-home care within 12 months by the corresponding proportion for non-Indigenous children.
8. As the Child protection NMDS 2016–17 does not include reunification data, reporting of this indicator for 2016–17 is based on data covering reunification events during the 2016–17 reporting period in the Child protection NMDS 2017–18.

100 × (Numerator ÷ Denominator)

The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 0–16 who were reunified during the reporting period and did not return to out-of-home care in 12 months or less.

The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 0–16 who were reunified during the reporting period.

2016–17 to 2019–20

By state and territory and:

• Indigenous status (and rate ratio)
• Whether or not a child returned to out-of-home care within 12 months

Comparability with similar reporting

ATSICPP Indicator 2.4 is derived using the same methodology as the Permanency Outcomes Performance Framework Indicator 1.6 (AIHW 2020a).

Other than the focus of ATSICPP Indicator 2.4 being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children rather than all children, the other key differences between the indicators relate to which disaggregations are reported. ATSICPP Indicator 2.4 includes Indigenous status disaggregations and rate ratios in data tables. Permanency Indicator 1.6a reports additional disaggregations by age and time in out-of-home care.

For additional details and background on the method and development of this indicator, see Child protection Australia 2019–20 Appendixes B–G (AIHW 2020a).

Age

Only children aged less than 17 years were included in this indicator to allow for a full 12 months of follow up. This is because 12 months following the reunification for a child aged 17, that child would be aged 18 and no longer eligible for entry into out-of-home care.

Fourth Action Plan under the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009–2020

Australian Institute for Health and Welfare (AIHW)