Selected vulnerabilities
Children on a CPO may face additional vulnerabilities that make them more susceptible to becoming homeless, in particular family and domestic violence, a current mental health issue and problematic drug and/or alcohol use. These vulnerabilities are only assessed in clients aged 10 and over.

Service use patterns
The length of support children on protection orders received increased in 2020–21 to a median of 102 days, up from 99 days in 2016–17. The average number of support periods per client however has remained consistent over time from an average of 1.8 support periods per client in 2016–17 to 1.7 in 2020–21. The proportion of clients receiving accommodation has decreased from 53% in 2016–17 to 49% in 2020–21, while the median number of nights accommodated increased from 69 in 2016–17 to 76 in 2020–21 (Supplementary table CLIENTS.44).
New or returning clients
More than half of the children on a CPO (58% or around 4,800 clients) were returning clients (Supplementary table CLIENTS.38), having received assistance from a SHS agency at some point since the collection began in July 2011. Returning clients were more likely than new clients to be aged 10–17 (42%, compared with 38%), conversely new clients were more likely to be aged 0–9 years (62% compared with 58% of returning clients).
Main reasons for seeking assistance
In 2020–21, the main reasons for seeking assistance among children on a CPO were (Supplementary table CPO.4):
- family and domestic violence (39% or over 3,200 clients)
- housing crisis (16% or around 1,300 clients)
- inadequate or inappropriate dwelling conditions (10% or over 800 clients).
Family and domestic violence was the most common reason for seeking assistance for both homeless and at risk children on CPO, though the proportion was much higher for children at risk (48% or nearly 1,800 clients, compared with 29% or just over 1,000) (Supplementary table CPO.5).
Services needed and provided
Similar to the overall SHS population, most children on a CPO needed general services that were provided by SHS agencies including advice/information, advocacy/liaison on behalf of client and other basic assistance.