Early intervention and family support

Keeping families safely together is one of the most powerful tools available to reduce the number of children entering out-of-home care. The 2026-27 Budget’s establishment of the new Children and Family Support program, $171.7 million over five years, with $42.9 million per year ongoing from 1 July 2027, is the single most significant structural development in this budget for CREATE’s advocacy priorities.

This program consolidates existing government-funded family programs currently supporting up to 270,000 children and families each year into a simplified national model. Critically, it includes a commitment to directing investment toward flexible, evidence-informed prevention and early intervention including parenting programs, and to increasing services delivered by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations. Both of these commitments directly reflect what CREATE Foundation and the sector have been calling for.

CREATE welcomes this investment. We note, however, that the transition to 1 July 2027 means many existing service providers face a period of uncertainty. The design of new program guidelines will be critical and CREATE calls on the government to ensure children and young people with a care experience, and organisations that work specifically with them, are central to that co-design process.

The budget also provides $308.6 million over five years for ending gender-based violence, including $218.3 million to support the Our Ways, Strong Ways, Our Voices: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Plan to End Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence 2026-2036. This includes funding for a national network of ACCOs to deliver FDSV services. Exposure to domestic and family violence is one of the largest contributing factors to child maltreatment in Australia and a primary driver of child removal. This investment is welcome and overdue.

"So many children are removed for DV, it’s like the person being abused is almost being punished. Instead, they need to focus on removing the abuser or providing a safer environment for the whole family. It would be less traumatising and would lead to better outcomes.”

CREATE Foundation also notes the $182.6 million over four years to close loopholes enabling weaponisation and financial abuse in the Child Support Scheme. For young people who have experienced family violence and whose parents are navigating the Child Support Scheme, these reforms have direct implications for their safety and financial security.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are over-represented in out-of-home care at deeply troubling rates, 9.7 times more likely to be in care than non-Indigenous children nationally. The Closing the Gap National Agreement sets Target 12: reduce this over-representation by 45% by 2031. Progress has been insufficient, and in places including the Northern Territory where approximately 90% of children in care are Aboriginal, is going backwards.

CREATE Foundation welcomes the government’s $793.7 million over five years for Closing the Gap measures. This includes significant investment in areas directly relevant to children and young people: $144.1 million for ACCHS infrastructure, $44.4 million for Birthing on Country, $55.5 million for the Clontarf Foundation, $30 million for AIEF secondary scholarships, $18.9 million for 13YARN crisis support, and $6.3 million for a national First Nations housing peak body.

Particularly significant is the $42.8 million over five years to establish permanent statutory arrangements for the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People. This is a direct accountability mechanism for child protection and wellbeing outcomes. CREATE Foundation strongly supports this investment and calls on the government to ensure children and young people with lived experience of care are central to the Commission’s work.

The $15.5 million for the new Our Ways Strong Together peak body, the National Peak Body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Safety, is also welcome. A dedicated peak body for First Nations family safety, led by First Nations people, is essential infrastructure for sustainable reform.

However, CREATE Foundation notes that this budget does not specifically address Closing the Gap Target 12 with dedicated new child protection funding at the Commonwealth level. The Children and Family Support program’s commitment to increasing ACCO-delivered services is a step in the right direction, however the specific accountability mechanism for reducing Aboriginal child removal rates requires more targeted investment and transparent reporting.

“I never had guidance towards my culture. When I finally got to do cultural things, it felt strange at first but it gave me a sense of belonging I’d never had.”

CREATE Foundation calls on the government to update the National Standards for Out-of-Home Care to align with Safe and Supported, reinstate annual public reporting on compliance with those Standards, and ensure all five elements of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle are embedded in the new Children and Family Support program guidelines.

Transitioning to independence

The transition from care is one of the most critical moments in a young person’s life. Unlike their peers, young people leaving care do not have the safety net of family financial support, an established rental history, or the informal networks that help most young Australians navigate independence. This budget takes a meaningful step on housing – but the broader transition from care package remains inadequate.

The TILA remains at $1,500, unchanged since 2009. There is no announcement of a nationally consistent transition from care support package. There is no announcement of extended care to age 25. The variability of transition supports across jurisdictions continues to produce inequitable outcomes depending solely on where a young person happens to live.

“I’m still very scared about transitioning from care. If no funding is there, is it going to be ok?”

“If your case manager doesn’t do it [transition planning], it doesn’t happen… they go home but we are home. The decisions they make continue to impact our lives even after we turn 18.”

CREATE Foundation calls on the Commonwealth Government to use its Community Services Ministers meeting functions to coordinate a nationally consistent transition from care support package. At minimum this must include: leaving care planning beginning no later than age 15; an opt-out Independent Living Allowance of at least $16,000 per year for all young people leaving care; guaranteed access to transition support services to age 25 regardless of jurisdiction; and the establishment of Ministerial Youth Expert Advisory Groups. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, this planning must be delivered through ACCOs.

Health, mental health and disability

CREATE Foundation strongly welcomes the new Thriving Kids program - $2.0 billion Commonwealth investment over five years (matched by states for a total of $4 billion) to deliver early intervention for children aged eight and under with developmental delay and/or autism. Many children in out-of-home care have unmet developmental, disability and therapeutic support needs. A program of this scale, delivered through early childhood education and community settings, has the potential to reach children who have previously fallen through the gaps.

The Thriving Kids program includes $126.1 million for early identification through a Medicare-funded 3-year-old health assessment, $120.9 million for national and local parent and family information, and $60.8 million for workforce development including dedicated First Nations workforce funding. These are meaningful building blocks for a more responsive early childhood system.

CREATE Foundation also notes the $277.5 million to extend the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement to June 2027, including $3.1 million for child and youth mental health support at public secondary schools. Many young people in and leaving care attend public schools and face significant mental health challenges without adequate therapeutic support. This is a welcome, if modest, investment.

However, CREATE Foundation notes that this budget does not include a dedicated mental health funding stream for children and young people currently in out-of-home care or those who have recently left care. Therapeutic supports for this cohort remain embedded within broader placement and staffing costs rather than being explicitly guaranteed. The NDIS reforms – which project $37.8 billion in reduced payments over four years through tighter eligibility and new framework planning – may also have consequences for children and young people in care who rely on NDIS supports. CREATE will monitor this closely.

Young people in care have described the inaccessibility of mental health services:

“They won’t start helping you unless you’re standing out for the wrong reasons. Once police or ambulances get involved then they’ll take you seriously.”

CREATE Foundation seeks free, targeted and culturally appropriate mental health supports for all children and young people who have spent time in care, accessible for as long as they are needed and continuing after a young person has left care. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, these supports must integrate cultural and community-led approaches, not only Western therapeutic models.

Amplifying the voices of children and young people

Children and young people with lived experience of out-of-home care are experts in their own lives. Their voices must be central to the design, delivery and evaluation of the policies and programs that shape their futures. CREATE Foundation’s advocacy is grounded in the consistent message young people give us: they want to be listened to, genuinely consulted, and to see their views reflected in action.

CREATE Foundation welcomes the $42.8 million over five years to establish permanent statutory arrangements for the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, which provides a structural platform for First Nations children’s voices. However, this budget contains no dedicated investment in youth participation mechanisms for children and young people in care more broadly – no Ministerial Youth Expert Advisory Group, no funded co-design process for the new Children and Family Support program, and no specific allocation for CREATE Foundation’s advocacy and consultation work.

Young people have told CREATE what it feels like when they are not heard:

“The government needs to listen to young people when we tell them how hard it is. I keep being told I’m so passionate but it’s because I’m not being heard. I have to say the same thing over and over.”

CREATE Foundation calls on the Commonwealth Government to establish Ministerial Youth Expert Advisory Groups modelled on the Victorian example, fund state-based Leaving Care Expos, roll out CREATE’s Sortli App for young people transitioning from care, and implement better digital information systems across jurisdictions to reduce the burden on young people navigating multiple government systems without family support.