Key Assets Australia and Key Assets New Zealand evidence review reframes emergency care for children and young people
Key Assets Australia and Key Assets New Zealand evidence review reframes emergency care for children and young people
Key Assets Australia and Key Assets New Zealand, working alongside Lumenia, have completed an evidence review exploring how emergency care for children and young people can be redesigned to move away from crisis-driven, non-home based placements and toward evidence-informed, relationship-based and healing-centred care.
The review examines the increasing use of non-home-based forms of out-of-home care (OOHC) across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, with particular focus on their use in emergency and crisis situations. It raises concerns about the suitability of placements such as hotels, motels and other short-term accommodation, which are increasingly being used when children and young people enter care. While often intended as temporary responses, these arrangements can fail to provide the stability, therapeutic support and sense of belonging that children and young people need.
Key Assets Australia and Key Assets New Zealand commenced a deeper review of emergency care, informed by both evidence and co-design, which led to undertaking the study. In late 2025, emergency care design workshops were held across Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Auckland with practitioners, carers, cultural leaders, young people with lived experience, policymakers, academics and sector innovators. Lumenia was engaged to review Australian, New Zealand and international literature and help translate the evidence into practical design principles.
The findings point to a clear shift: emergency care should not be treated as a holding pattern. Effective responses need to prioritise family, kin and whānau connection, culturally grounded decision-making, rapid assessment, therapeutic and trauma-informed support, and home-like environments wherever safe and possible.
The review has already helped underpin the design of an emergency transition model being developed by Key Assets Australia. The model is intended to strengthen emergency responses that keep children and young people connected to family, kin, whānau, culture and community, while supporting carers and practitioners with clearer pathways, better information and practical wrap-around supports.
More information
To learn more about the emergency transition model, please contact your closest Key Assets Australia Jurisdictional Director here>
*Whānau = The ‘Te Reo Māori’ word for the extended family group. *