Definition
An Alternative Care Arrangement (ACA) is an emergency and temporary arrangement for a child in, or entering, statutory or supported out-of-home care (OOHC) after every effort has been made to place them with an accredited OOHC provider and are either:
- cared for in a hotel, motel or other temporary accommodation that can be terminated at short notice and/or
- directly cared for and supervised solely by sub-contracted staff from an ACA service provider who are authorised under clause 31B of the Care Regulation.
Placements in a Hotel/motel, caravan or holiday park are considered to be ACAs regardless of whether the direct care is provided by employees of a residential care accredited agency or by staff contracted from non-accredited ACA service providers.
Staff or contractors must be authorised in accordance with the OCG Guidelines for the emergency authorisation of staff or contractors from external agencies as per clause 31B of the Regulations1 . The requirement for authorisation applies to all staff, whether they are direct employees of the accredited agency or not.
Office of the Children’s Guardian notification requirements
Requires OCG notification within:
- 24 hrs of placement
- 7 days of entry to an ACA
- 7 days of ACA ending
Comments
1Clause 31B of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Regulation 2012 allows for a designated agency to authorise an employee of the designated agency or a contractor from an external agency to provide emergency care to children and young people in statutory out of home care. This includes staff or contractors employed by external agencies such as non-designated agencies, agencies providing non-placement support services or casual staff employed by staffing agencies.
Related content
| Relation | Count |
|---|---|
| Metadata that references this Glossary Item | 2 |