Children in care at high risk of suicide but national data is patchy

Experts say data gaps on suicides in out-of-home care mean prevention efforts are falling short, despite children in care being at higher risk.  

Young people are more than three times as likely to attempt suicide compared to children who are not in the care system, according to an Australian Catholic University (ACU) review.

But the lack of readily available public data and insights into these suicides — including whether the child was in kinship care, residential care or foster care — has researchers concerned they are being left in the dark about risk factors.

Sue-Anne Hunter, National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, said data collection was "fragmented" across states and territories.

"We don't have the full picture, and it restricts the ability to make sure that the right areas receive urgent attention because it leads to blind spots," she said.

"So there's insufficient funding and missed opportunities for early support, and they actually compound the trauma for the children living with the consequences."

While some states do publish data on suicides of children known to child protection departments, they do not all specify whether these children were in out-of-home care.

Professor Daryl Higgins, director of ACU's Institute of Child Protection Studies, said it meant researchers could not design targeted prevention strategies.

"We don't have good data on firstly, the prevalence and secondly, the characteristics, the locations, other factors that might tell us where within the out-of-home care system might children and young people be at greater risk," he said.

"We're not going to get increased investment in … new interventions that support this vulnerable population if in fact we don't have better data."

He suggested the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which tracks a range of child protection data, could collect and publish suicide data, but it would require "high-level agreement" from all states and territories.

Patchy data

The ABC attempted to gather data from child protection departments on how many children had died by suicide while in the care system.

New South Wales revealed eight children died by suicide in out-of-home care between 2012 and 2022. Five were Indigenous.

Queensland said between 2014 and 2025, 12 children who were under a child protection order died by suicide. Three of those children were First Nations, but it could not provide a breakdown of placements due to the risk of identifying families.

Tasmania, the ACT and South Australia would not provide the data, saying that because the numbers were small, disclosing the information could lead to identification.

Western Australia said every death of a child in care goes to a coronial investigation and directed the ABC to the National Coronial Inquest System (NCIS). 

The NCIS, which charges fees to release data, advised it tracks coronial findings and causes of death, but not placement history.

The Northern Territory government referred the ABC to 11 coronial inquests into young people who died by suicide between 2014 and 2023. It said three were in out-of-home care and all three were First Nations. The youngest was nine years old.

Victoria's Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) revealed there had been 45 deaths by suicide of children known to child protection since July 2017, including six who were Aboriginal children.

The commission's annual report also revealed there were 800 self-harm incidents and 115 suicide attempts among children in care in the last financial year.

Ms Hunter said the high number of children attempting suicide in care in Victoria was "horrific".

"We need to remember that every number is a child," she said.

"The state is the parent and so this shouldn't be happening."

Last year, the CCYP found Victoria had made no progress on its 2019 recommendation that it develop a suicide prevention strategy for children in out-of-home care.

Victoria's Department of Families, Fairness and Housing did not respond to the ABC's question about progress on this strategy.

Indigenous children at higher risk 

First Nations children are over-represented in the out-of-home-care system and face higher risks of suicide.

Aunty Muriel Bamblett, CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency, called for faster screening of children’s mental health upon their entry into the care system.

She said in Victoria, the screening took between three and six months.

"These children have gone through huge amounts of abuse and neglect, often being exposed to huge amounts of trauma," she said.

Ms Bambett said her organisation had been frustrated to learn of a suicide in out-of-home care of a First Nations young person who had not been referred to VACCA.

"I don't think systems understand really the importance of connection to the Aboriginal community," she said.

Sue-Anne Hunter said "we lose our children" far too often to suicide and preventing it required a whole-of-government approach.

"If a child is removed, are we using a whole-of-system approach to make sure they're safe?" she asked.

"Because we call it child protection, and we put them into care, but if a child's suiciding, it's actually not care and they're not protected."