In this post from UNICEF Australia's blog, UNICEF Australia Program Manager for Early Childhood Development, Alice Hall describes some of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children, including the child protection implications.

"A new study predicts that demand for foster care is likely to rise during the coronavirus pandemic, as households struggle with the economic impacts of bans and restrictions," says this article from SBS News.

For this study, semi-structured interviews with twelve birth parents and twenty six permanent carers took place in New South Wales, Australia. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify a pattern in the nature of adult relationships. The themes of 1) getting to know each other; 2) making family time; and 3) a shared future are presented.

This article from ABC News explores the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in out-of-home care in Victoria, Australia.

The authors of this study draw on the decision-making ecology model of judgement and decision making in child protection to speculate on possible causes of false positive errors in decision making regarding the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.

This study examined differences in childhood adversity, child protection involvement, and offending among crossover children by neurodisability status.

This article interrogates formal public evaluations of extended care programmes with a particular focus on their eligibility criteria that have determined which groups of care leavers are included or alternatively excluded and the identified strengths and limitations of the programmes.

"As Australians grapple with the sudden and challenging changes that COVID-19 has brought to their daily lives, the impact of the virus is being felt in extreme ways by vulnerable children and families," says Melissa Kaltner in this piece for the Conversation.

This report presents a review of published literature and consultation with current foster and kinship carers to examine impacts of COVID-19 on OOHC, highlighting the likelihood of increased service strain.

This paper utilises data generated through an ‘empowerment group’ for care‐experienced young people; it illustrates how an ecological understanding of agency, as a heuristic, might further understanding of the lives of care‐experienced young people.