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WA's real spending on foster and residential care has almost doubled since 2018-19 (up 94%), while the number of children in care has stayed flat. Early intervention got crumbs, and the Auditor General says the department can't show its strategies work.

Sources: Productivity Commission Report on Government Services (ROGS) 2026, Section 16 Child protection (tables 16A.2, 16A.10, 16A.38) and Section 19 Homelessness (tables 19A.1, 19A.21); WA Budget Paper 2, Part 8 Community Services. ROGS dollar figures are real 2024-25 dollars (inflation-adjusted).

This page covers welfare the WA Government runs: child protection, family support, homelessness services and community services contracts. Cash payments such as pensions and JobSeeker are federal, so they're not included. Aboriginal-specific spending has its own page.

Findings

1. About twice the money for the same number of children

Updated 13 Oct 2026

  • Fact: Real WA spending on out-of-home care services went from $329.3m (2016-17) to $697.5m (2024-25), up 112% (ROGS 16A.10).
  • Fact: Children in out-of-home care at 30 June: 4,754 (2018-19) and 4,716 (2024-25), essentially flat (ROGS 16A.2). Over the same years, real spending on care services rose from $359.7m to $697.5m, up 94% (ROGS 16A.10). Aboriginal children were 2,828, or 60%, in 2024-25.
  • Fact: Real cost per placement night went from $217 (2016-17) to $399 (2024-25), up 84%. It was below the national average ($230) and is now above it ($388) (ROGS 16A.38). Most of the jump came after 2020-21 ($228 to $399).
  • Our read: WA is paying far more for the same number of children in care. The Government hasn't explained the rise. Residential care and contracted placements are likely drivers.

2. Prevention gets crumbs

Updated 13 Oct 2026

  • Fact: Real WA spending on family support services was $26.8m in 2016-17 and $26.0m in 2024-25, a real cut. Intensive family support grew from $12.9m to about $22.1m (ROGS 16A.10; intensive support derived as the total less protective and care services).
  • Our read: Early intervention fell from about 6.7% to about 4.6% of child-protection spending, while care, the most expensive end, doubled.
  • Fact: The Auditor General found WA spends $7,285 per child on intensive family support, against $10,976 nationally. It also found the Earlier Intervention and Family Support Strategy only partly effective, and that the Department "cannot show it is delivering the intended outcomes" (OAG, Implementation of the Earlier Intervention and Family Support Strategy, 2024).

3. The Auditor General couldn't trust the child-safety numbers

Updated 13 Oct 2026

  • Fact: For 2023-24 the OAG issued a qualified opinion on Communities' KPIs. Its Assist system allowed child safety investigation start and end dates to be changed with no recorded reason, so the OAG "could not confirm if child safety investigations were backdated for appropriate reasons" (OAG, State Government 2023-24 Financial Audit Results).
  • Fact: OAG (2025-26) found Communities' implementation of the Royal Commission's Child Safe principles "fragmented", with no overarching plan, so it "does not understand its current progress" (OAG).

4. The budget trick: top up every year, show a cut in the forward years

Updated 13 Oct 2026

  • Fact: Communities' total cost of services was budgeted at $1.640bn for 2024-25 but came in at an estimated $1.923bn, 17% over. The 2025-26 budget is $2.015bn, then the forward estimates fall to $1.771bn, $1.758bn and $1.752bn (BP2 Part 8, 2025-26).
  • Fact: The out-of-home care top-up is $167.8m (2024-25) and $127.4m (2025-26), then only $5.3m to $5.7m a year in the forward estimates (same source, spending changes table).
  • Our read: The real cost isn't funded in the forward years, so the budget's out-year surpluses look better than they will turn out. This is the same pattern as on our Surplus trick page.

5. Where the NGO money goes

Updated 13 Oct 2026

  • Fact: Communities holds about 780 community services contracts with 450 external providers (70 of them ACCOs), worth an estimated $4bn over their life (Communities Agency Commissioning Plan).
  • Fact: In 2024-25 Communities allocated "$825+ million across 973 community services contracts" (Communities Annual Report 2024-25). Its 2025-26 estimates show $809.6m in supplies and services (which includes contracted services) against $657.6m in employee costs (s40 estimates 2025-26).
  • Cross-link: WACOSS, the peak body lobbying for this sector, gets 84.9% of its revenue from government (Donations and NGOs page).

6. Homelessness: +58% in four years, costlier per client

Updated 13 Oct 2026

  • Fact: Real WA homelessness services spending went from $105.7m (2020-21) to $167.1m (2024-25), up 58%. Cost per client went from $4,318 to $6,447 (+49%), and cost per support day from $58.28 to $71.30 (ROGS 19A.1, 19A.21, 19A.19).
  • Fact: WA still spends less per resident than the national average ($55.53 vs $64.05) (19A.1).
  • Fact: East Perth Common Ground (about $70m) had its construction contract announced in Jun 2023, construction completed in Nov 2025 and first tenants in Apr 2026. The first tender was abandoned on value-for-money grounds (media statement 26 Jun 2023; first tenants 1 Apr 2026).

7. Re-announcements

Updated 13 Oct 2026

  • Fact: Our media-statement log has 441 welfare-portfolio statements since Jan 2023 (Communities, child protection, homelessness, FDV, seniors, disability). Recurring headline amounts include a $6m FDV grants figure in 7 statements and $70m in 3 (our log of WA Government media statements).
  • Fact: The 2025-26 Budget Overview says FDV spending reached "$541 million over the past five years" (Budget Overview). That is a five-year cumulative figure, not annual spending.