Two bulletins issued today by the Australian Institute of Health
and Welfare (AIHW) show that of the 157,200 people who accessed the
major program supporting homeless people in 2004-05, 68,100 or 43%
were children.
The two bulletins Homeless Children in SAAP 2004-05: summary
findings, and the more detailed Homeless Children in SAAP
2004-05, look at children entering the Supported Accommodation
Assistance Program (SAAP) who either accompanied a parent or
guardian, or sought assistance on their own.
Report author Felicity Murdoch, of the AIHW's Supported
Accommodation and Crisis Services Unit, said the reports show that
the majority of accompanied children were under 12 years of age and
the majority of children on their own were aged 14 years and
over.
'Very young children had the highest rate of use with one in
every 51 Australian children aged 0-4 years accompanying a parent
or guardian to a SAAP agency at some time during 2004-05, she
said.
For unaccompanied children, the highest rate of SAAP use was by
16-17 year-olds, with one in every 70 young people in this age
bracket accessing a SAAP service in 2004-05.
The main reasons that people with children sought support were
issues around interpersonal relationships (58%), particularly
domestic violence (41%). For unaccompanied children aged 12-17
years, the main reasons were also issues around interpersonal
relationships (52%), but in this case with an emphasis on
relationship or family breakdown (24%).
The vast majority (94%) of services requested for accompanied
children were able to be provided directly, with the most common
unmet need being for counselling services.
Services requested for unaccompanied children aged 12-17 years
were also able to be provided in about 90% of cases, with the most
common unmet need being for housing or accommodation related
services.
For unaccompanied children, the older the child was, the less
likely they were to be living with their parent or guardian
immediately before seeking support. Also, fewer unaccompanied
children went back to live with their parent(s) once they had left
SAAP, than lived with parent(s) before entering the program. The
majority (60%) of unaccompanied 16-17 year olds had left the
education system.
People with children entering SAAP were less likely to be in the
labour force and slightly more likely to have a government pension
or benefit as their main source of income than people without
children using the program.
25 August 2006
Further information: Ms Felicity Murdoch, AIHW,
tel. 02 6244 1018, mob. 0407 915 851.
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. 61 2 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability of Homeless Children in
SAAP 2004-05: summary findings and Homeless Children in
SAAP 2004-05.