Thousands of teenagers in NSW are turning up alone at refuges seeking shelter.
A NSW Ombudsman's report released on Monday found that 2588 children aged between 12 and 15 presented on their own to a refuge somewhere in NSW in 2018-19, without a parent or guardian.
Acting NSW Ombudsman Paul Miller said children who presented alone to homelessness services were extremely vulnerable and needed the highest level of care and support - more than just shelter.
The report was gauging the Communities and Justice Department's progress in dealing with the problems previously identified in the Ombudsman's June 2018 report and found the recommendations of that report - which it accepted - had not been implemented.
Whether those unaccompanied homeless children were receiving the necessary support was unclear, the report said.
The Ombudsman commissioned a special extract from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Specialist Homelessness Services collection 2018-19 because there was no publicly available information about unaccompanied homeless children aged 12-15.
It found that of the 2588 children: 292 were on a care or protection order, 846 were repeat clients, 449 stayed in a refuge, with a quarter staying more than three months and 10 per cent occupying a bed for more than six months.
The NSW Ombudsman found:
* DCJ had not yet clarified decision-making authority for these children when they stay in a refuge and consent from a parent was unobtainable
* The policy - Unaccompanied Children and Young People 12-15 Years Accessing Specialist Homelessness Services - was unchanged after five years and still provided insufficient guidance to homelessness services
* DCJ has taken significant steps towards better tracking of the children but there was still no routine collection and public reporting of data about them
* There are no requirements to monitor homeless children who are already in the care of the Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services, and
* New accreditation standards for homelessness services may not effectively measure the quality of care provided to homeless children.
Mr Miller said it wasn't clear who could exercise decision-making authority for an unaccompanied homeless child, if a parent was unavailable to do so.
"The department has not demonstrated that it has the practical capacity to respond in all cases where a care and protection response is warranted," he said.
"Assuming that continues to be the case, it will continue to fall to specialist homelessness services providers to meet the needs of children in their care, and this may necessitate making decisions for them in the absence of parental consent."
Australian Associated Press