Exploring the impact of child and placement characteristics, carer resources and perceptions, and life stressors on caregiving

This project explored the impact of child and placement characteristics, carer resources, perceptions and stressors on caregiving and well-being; and identify carer group-based trajectories over time. The project analysed data from the Pathways of Care Longitudinal Study (POCLS). POCLS is the largest prospective longitudinal study of children and young people in out-of-home care (OOHC) conducted in Australia and is managed by the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Communities Justice (DCJ). The cohort includes children and young people who entered OOHC for the first time in NSW between May 2010 and October 2011 and who received final Children’s Court care and protection orders by April 2013. Information for this study was obtained from the DCJ administrative data and a series of questionnaires involving caregivers and children and young people in OOHC at four points in time: wave 1 (2011-2013), wave 2 (2013-2015), wave 3 (2014-2016), and wave 4 (2017-2018). Data from the child's caseworkers were also surveyed once during 2015-2016. All data were analysed within the Secure Unified Research Environment (SURE).