Ending Unaccompanied Child Homelessness in Australia

Abstract

In Australia, children can experience homelessness alone, without a parent or guardian. There are clear interventions, however, which could be implemented to prevent unaccompanied child homelessness or ensure that it is a brief, supported and one-off experience.

Unaccompanied child homelessness is the presenting outcome of a lack of care and effective guardianship in children’s lives. This brief article addresses the hidden and complex experience of unaccompanied child homelessness for those not currently receiving child protection services. These children face extreme precarity due to the absence of effective guardianship provided by families or by the State.