Specialist homelessness services annual report 2024–25

Care and protection orders (CPOs) are legal orders or arrangements that place partial or all responsibility for a child’s welfare with child protection departments. In Australia, state and territory governments are responsible for statutory child protection. Their respective departments work with children and families to protect children from abuse, neglect or other harm (AIHW 2025).

In 2024–25, around 1 in 30 (3.0%) SHS clients were children on care and protection orders; a similar proportion to 2015–16 (3.3%). Experiences of trauma and abuse associated with CPOs including family and domestic violence, problematic drug or alcohol use and mental health issues, mean children on CPOs need greater supports to navigate everyday life, and prevent entry into homelessness later in life (DSS 2021).

For more information about children on care and protection orders, see Child protection Australia 2023–24, and Children on care and protection orders.

Client characteristics

To compare selected characteristics and experiences across the SHS client groups presented in this report, please refer to the Client group comparison visualisations.

Placement type

Children on CPOs may reside with their parents or in placements approved by each state or territory’s child protection department when they are unable to live with their families due to safety concerns. Most (67%) SHS clients on CPOs were living with their parents (Figure CPO.2).

Service use patterns

Children on CPOs received a median of 109 days of SHS support in 2024–25, an increase from 102 days in 2022–23 and 107 days in 2023–24. The average number of support periods per client was 1.7 support periods per client in 2024–25 (Supplementary table CLIENTS.48).

Client needs and main reason for assistance

Main reasons for seeking assistance

The main reason children on CPOs sought assistance were similar for those experiencing homelessness as for those at risk of homelessness in 2024–25. 

For those experiencing homelessness, the most common main reasons for seeking assistance were (Supplementary table CPO.6):

• family and domestic violence (28%)
• housing crisis (21%)
• inadequate or inappropriate dwelling conditions (18%).

For those at risk of homelessness:

• family and domestic violence (48%)
• housing crisis (14%)
• other reasons (6.5%).

Services needed and provided

Services provided to clients range from the direct provision of accommodation, such as a bed in a shelter, to more specialised services such as counselling and legal support. These services are generally either provided to the client directly by the agency or the client is referred to another SHS agency or specialised service.

Children on CPOs were more likely than all SHS clients to need the following services (Supplementary tables CPO.2 and CLIENTS.24):

• child protection services (17%, compared with 3.6%)
• assistance for family/domestic violence (41%, compared with 28%)
• family/relationship assistance (19%, compared with 11%)
• school liaison (7.7%, compared with 3%)
• educational assistance (12%, compared with 7.7%).

Housing situation and outcomes

This section highlights changes in clients’ housing situation between the start and end of support. That is, the place they were living before and after receiving assistance from a SHS agency. The data includes only clients who ceased receiving SHS support during the financial year and were no longer receiving ongoing support from a SHS agency. 

Specifically, it compares clients’ housing at the start of their first support period in 2024–25 with the end of their last support period in 2024–25. It does not capture changes that occurred during a support period, nor changes throughout the year between different support periods.

By the end of support, many children on CPOs had achieved or progressed towards a more positive housing solution. In particular, the number of clients ending support in public or community housing (renter or rent-free) or private or other housing (renter or rent-free) had increased compared with the start of support (Supplementary table CPO.3).

In 2024–25, of the approximately 2,700 children on CPOs who were known to be experiencing homelessness at the start of support (Supplementary table CPO.3):

• around 1,400 clients were homeless when support ended, mostly in short-term accommodation (790 clients) or couch surfing (485 clients) 
• around 520 clients were in public/community housing and 570 clients were in private housing when support ended. 

In 2024–25, of the 2,300 children on CPOs who were known to be at risk of homelessness at the start of support (Supplementary table CPO.3):

• most clients maintained their housing situation at the end of support; around 1,100 clients maintained private housing and 485 clients maintained public or community housing.
• around 340 clients were experiencing homelessness when support ended, mostly in short-term accommodation (225 clients).