Definition
An Individual Placement Arrangement (IPA) is a temporary fee-for-service emergency accommodation arrangements based on the individual needs of the child or young person. It is only used after every effort has been made to place the child or young person in a contracted out-of-home care (OOHC) arrangement.
An IPA is an emergency bespoke arrangement where:
- the accommodation is stable and ‘home-like’ (i.e. not in a hotel/motel, caravan park, etc) and
- direct care of the child or young person is predominately provided by staff from a residential care accredited agency.1
An arrangement is not considered IPA if:
- The child is in temporary accommodation for respite for less than 21 days and has a primary placement to return to
- The child is in temporary accommodation for less than 21 days while a reportable allegation is investigated
- The child is in temporary accommodation, away from their ITC placement, for 14 days or less.
Comments
1Clause 31B of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Regulation 2012 allows for a designated agency to authorise an employee of the designated agency or a contractor from an external agency to provide emergency care to children and young people in statutory out of home care. This includes staff or contractors employed by external agencies such as non-designated agencies, agencies providing non-placement support services or casual staff employed by staffing agencies.
Related content
| Relation | Count |
|---|---|
| Metadata that references this Glossary Item | 2 |