We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and pay our respects to all Elders past and present, and to the children of today who are the Elders of the future.
Artist: Jasmine Sarin, a proud Kamilaroi and Jerrinja woman.
Under the Community Services (Complaints, Review and Monitoring) Act 1993 (CS CRAMA) the NSW Ombudsman has functions to: monitor and review the delivery of community services, conduct inquiries into matters affecting service providers and receivers and make recommendations for improvements in the delivery of community services. This includes community services that are provided by the non-government sector, with funding or authorisation from the NSW Government.
In July 2024, the NSW Ombudsman announced the commencement of an inquiry into Intensive Therapeutic Care (ITC).1 Once the Inquiry is completed, we will prepare a Special Report to Parliament (the Report) about what we have found and our recommendations. The Report will be available on our website.
The ITC program provides residential care placements for children over 12 years of age with high and complex needs “…who are either unable to be supported in foster care or require specialised and intensive supports to maintain stability in their care arrangements."2
The Inquiry’s central purpose is to assess whether ITC is meeting its objectives for children and to recommend how ITC can be improved.
The ITC service system is “designed to be flexible enough to respond to the needs of children and young people with the most complex support needs”,3 so they can recover and heal from “the most severe forms of trauma, neglect, abuse or adversity.”4
The Inquiry will seek to answer the following questions:
Submissions have now closed. The report is currently in preparation.
1 NSW Ombudsman | Protecting children at risk: an assessment of whether… p. 6; This Inquiry is being conducted under s11(1)(e) Community Services Complaints, Review and Monitoring Act 1993 (CS-CRAMA)
2 Residential care placements | Communities and Justice
3 The Centre for Evidence and Implementation (CEI) on behalf of DCJ undertook an extensive evaluation of the PSP which was published in April 2023. ITC was not included in the evaluation. Evaluation for the Permanency Support Program: Final Report
4 System review into out-of-home care (OOHC) | Communities and Justice
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and pay our respects to all Elders past and present, and to the children of today who are the Elders of the future.
Artist: Jasmine Sarin, a proud Kamilaroi and Jerrinja woman.