budget new research on government and donor funding of services required under the children’s act shows a serious shortfall in funding for essential childcare and protection services there is an urgent need to increase both government and donor funding if we are to reach all children in need of care and protection the acdp calls on government to ensure that the draft national policy on financing of nonprofit organisations fully acknowledges government’s obligations under the children’s act to provide and fund a comprehensive range of social services for children and that it is finalised in consultation with nonprofit organisations the serious deterioration in child services particularly for children in conflict with the law means we are failing children and failing in our responsibility to raise adults capable of participating meaningfully in society as nongovernmental organisations often provide a better less expensive service for vulnerable children than government can these providers need more support the acdp welcomes the urgent court order giving the minister and mecs until the end of twenty fourteen to find solutions to the foster care crisis the current crisis is attributed to a combination of backlogs caused by a general shortage of social workers a lack of capacity to process the extension of orders and the sheer volume of foster care orders that need to be accommodated in the children’s courts the acdp calls on the minister to redouble efforts to increase access to social workers and to explore the possible need to amend the children’s act