Accommodation and Care Services (ACS) Directorate ensures the effective and efficient delivery of accommodation services to vulnerable children in the context of their families and communities throughout the state.
This includes recruitment assessment and training of foster, relative and professional carers; adoptions; crisis care; residential care; and departmentally-operated tertiary support services:
ACS includes 5 units, providing a “Continuum of Care” for children and young people through emergency placement, short/long term residential care, fostering (intensive, one to one and general) and adoptions.
ACS (formerly Placement Services) was renamed following the functional review of the Department for Community Development and the release of the Ford Report.
The Ford Review [PDF, 1mb] made recommendations for the directorate focusing on:
- therapeutic services
- implementation of the Ombudsman recommendations
- non-government services care options
- carer recruitment
- establishment of group homes across each district
- a State Intensive Therapeutic Unit
- Duty of care unit.
These are priority areas for development during 2007-08.