The peak Indigenous legal service in New South Wales supports calls made by the Advocate for Children and Young People to discontinue the use of alternative care arrangements for children in the out-of-home care system.

This week, ACYP Zoë Robinson found alternative care arrangements (ACAs), also known as high-cost emergency arrangements (HCEAs), are "not appropriate care placements or living arrangements for children and young people".

ACAs involve a child or young person being cared for in emergency accommodation, including hotels, apartments, caravan parks or short-term rentals.

Moving cage to cage: Final Report of the Special Inquiry into children and young people in alternative care arrangements, found the "overwhelming evidence" showed ACAs were not appropriate care placements or living arrangements for children and young people.

"This evidence comes directly from children and young people who have been placed in these arrangements and is consistent with a number of written submissions received," Ms Robinson said.

Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) NSW/ACT chief executive, Karly Warner said "children belong safe at home, not forced to live in motels with a rotating cast of strangers playing the role of parent".

"Many Aboriginal families are devastated [that] their children are forced into hotels and caravan parks rather than growing up connected to family, culture and community," Ms Warner said.

"By prioritising child removals over providing early and effective support to families, the NSW Government is failing our children.

"Instead of using expensive, unstable, and harmful alternative care arrangements, the Government should be investing in supporting families to keep children safe at home."

ALS noted the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) "removes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their homes at over 12 times the rate of non-Indigenous children".

The special inquiry heard from 21 children and young people aged between 10 and 23 years-of-age, and Ms Robinson said in her view, "children and young people placed in ACAs are at significant risk of experiencing negative short and long-term impacts, which can lead to further complexities as they grow and develop".

As of 30 June 2023, there were 118 children and young people in ACAs.

They are usually supervised by "sub-contracted workers from non-accredited agencies or labour hire companies".

This includes 26 children and young people in hotels and motels, 37 in serviced apartments and 55 in short-term rentals including caravan parks.

In May, the interim report found many at-risk children had been placed in the profit-driven care arrangements for as long as 600 days.

In June, two scathing reports by the auditor general found the DCJ do not monitor the wellbeing of children in OOHC, and were unable to demonstrate compliance with guarding safely the rights of Indigenous children, families, and communities when they encounter the child protection system — known as the principles.

Children gave evidence of their experiences in hearings across the state, with the report highlighting shocking cases of neglect, sexual assault, and children being exposed to rampant drug use whilst being placed in ACAs.

One child told the inquiry it felt like they were being moved from "cage to cage".

ALS welcomed children being centred in the inquiry, arguing that too often, the needs and experiences of young people most impacted by the system are routinely ignored.

"As part of a strategy to end the use of alternative care arrangements, the NSW Government needs to invest in alternative options including supported bail accommodation," Ms Warner said, noting many of the children ALS helps with are placed in ACAs after leaving custody when the DCJ fails to find another, more stable placement type.

"We call on the Minister for Families and Communities to adopt the ACYP's recommendations and confirm the NSW Government's commitment to the Family Is Culture recommendations, which remain as critical today as they were when released almost five years ago.

"This is essential for Closing the Gap in children taken away from their homes and families."

Minister for Families and Communities, Kate Washington, said she'd been working closely with Ms Robinson to respond to the report, including meeting with some of the children who gave testimony.

"The stories are stark and shocking and confirm what I have been saying for the last year: that the child protection system is broken and needs reform," Ms Washington said.

"Since last year, we have worked hard to get children out of these inappropriate arrangements – and the numbers have dropped significantly. We will continue our work to get the best outcomes for children in out-of-home care in NSW."

Greens spokesperson for Youth Justice, Sue Higginson, said the report "bluntly" acknowledged the damage caused by ACAs, labelling it "old, tragic and open secret".

"We now have a dozen reviews and reports that paint a horrifying picture. This system is a machine that splits families, grinds down good foster carers, and funnels public money to for-profit companies that are actively harming children," Ms Higginson said.

"The only way out of this crisis is to invest in families and communities to ensure they can care for kids in the way that every parent wishes, and every child deserves."