This document presents key findings from The ACE Hub research and database build — seven databases covering research evidence, funding, frontline organisations, sector salaries, cost-of-reports analysis, content strategy, and media credibility. The data was compiled and analysed by Kayt McGeary (CEP), founder of The ACE Hub, as part of an evidence-based strategy to address the gaps in support for care-experienced women and girls in Australia.
What is a care leaver or care-experienced person, (CEP)? Someone who has spent time in Australia's out-of-home care system — including foster care, kinship care, or residential care — as a child or young person under Australian state, territory or community child protection.
What does ACE stand for? Accessibility · Connection · Empowerment — the three things Australian Care-Experienced women are most consistently denied. It's also no coincidence that ACE aligns with Adverse Childhood Experiences, the internationally recognised body of research documenting the lifelong impact of childhood trauma. This work sits at the crossover of both.
📖 ACE Research & Evidence Database
~106 entries spanning 30+ years of reports, inquiries, and research
The core problem: 30+ years of reports and inquiries — yet outcomes for care leavers remain largely unchanged. The same issues are identified, re-researched, and re-reported. The system produces paper, not change.
- Research is dominated by a tiny group — Four individuals names appear repeatedly throughout the timeline. The sector recycles the same voices rather than bringing in new perspectives, particularly those with lived experience.
- Heaviest categories: Forgotten Australians and Royal Commission dominate the evidence base, followed by Leaving Care & Transitions.
- Critical gap — women and mothers: Very few resources focus specifically on women or mothers who are care leavers. This is the "Missing Middle" — mid-life care-experienced women are almost invisible in the research.
- Critical gap — First Nations leaving care: Almost no First Nations-specific leaving care research exists as a standalone body of work, despite massive overrepresentation in the system.
- Pitch-ready stat: "Over 100 research papers and government reports exist on care leavers in Australia. The evidence base is not missing — the action is."
💰 Grants & Funding for ACE Women Database
42 entries across all states/territories + national
The core problem: Grants exist but are scattered, hard to find, and almost never targeted specifically at care leavers — let alone care-experienced women. Most relevant funding is buried under broader categories like "disadvantaged youth" or "homelessness."
- TILA gap: The Transition to Independent Living Allowance is only $1,500 per young person AND requires a caseworker to apply — many care leavers post-18 don't have one. A system designed to help that requires the system to access it.
- Best fits for ACE Gear Bags: Boosting Female Founders Initiative (up to $480K, female-founded startups) and SEDI — Social Enterprise Development Initiative (up to $120K). Both are federal and highly relevant.
- Philanthropy is often simpler: Foundations like Ian Potter, Myer, and Paul Ramsay often have more accessible application processes than government grants.
- Key gap for the ACE Hub pitch: There is no dedicated national grant specifically for care-experienced women entrepreneurs. This is both a problem and an opportunity — it's a market gap that strengthens the case for ACE Hub.
- Shareability note: This database becomes a community resource — something no one else has compiled.
🏛️ Frontline Organisations for ACE Women Database
47 entries across all states/territories + national
The core problem: Services are unevenly distributed, overwhelmingly focused on youth (under 25), and almost entirely absent for mid-life care leavers. The "Missing Middle" has no dedicated service ecosystem.
- Geographic inequality: VIC and NSW are comparatively well-serviced. NT and TAS have very few options — some states had difficulty reaching even 5 relevant organisations.
- Age cut-off cliff: Most organisations serve "youth" up to 25. After that, care leavers fall into generic services that don't understand their background. There is almost nothing purpose-built for care-experienced people aged 25–65.
- Only 2 true national peak bodies: CLAN and CREATE Foundation are the only organisations operating nationally with care leavers as their primary focus.
- Critical gap — mothers: No organisation specifically serves care-experienced mothers. This is a massive unmet need given the intergenerational nature of care involvement.
- Critical gap — lived experience leadership: Very few organisations in this database are actually led by people with lived experience of care.
- Pitch-ready stat: "47 organisations across Australia serve care leavers. Zero are specifically designed for care-experienced mothers."
📝 ACE Hub Content Planner
Content pieces across blog, podcast, LinkedIn, newsletter, Dear Aunty Cuz, and media pitch
Strategic observation: The content strategy is mapped but all pieces are at "Idea" stage. The evidence base (106 entries), cost analysis ($5.3B), and salary data give the founder a content arsenal that no other care leaver advocate in Australia has in one place.
- Highest-impact launch pieces: "Welcome to ACE Hub: Why We Exist" (founding story) and "The $3.2 Billion Question: Where Did the Money Go?" (Royal Commission cost analysis). Both are investor-pitch ready.
- Cross-platform strategy: Write once, repurpose across ACE Hub website → LinkedIn → Substack → Newsletter.
- Dear Aunty Cuz format: The letter-style advice column is unique in the care leaver space. Nobody else is doing this — it's personal, accessible, and shareable.
- Media pitch ready: With the EIAC report contribution and StartSpace panel on the record, the founder has credibility to pitch op-eds and interviews to ABC, Guardian, and The Conversation.
💸 Cost-of-Reports Analysis
15 entries tracking $5.3 BILLION+ in government spending
The core problem: Australia has spent over $5.3 billion on inquiries, commissions, and redress schemes. The money went to asking questions, not solving problems. And the more money spent, the lower the implementation rate.
- Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse: 409 recommendations, only ~40% implemented (164 of 409). Operational cost alone: $500M+. Cost per recommendation: ~$1.2M. Average redress payment: ~$89,000 against $150,000 maximum.
- Bringing Them Home (Stolen Generations): Only 5 of 54 recommendations fully implemented — published in 1997, nearly 30 years ago.
- Forgotten Australians Senate Inquiry: Only 12 of 39 recommendations implemented. National Apology took until 2009 — 5 years after the report.
- The pattern: The more money spent, the fewer recommendations get implemented. The reports generate employment for consultants and researchers. The outcomes go to bureaucracy, not to the people the reports are about.
- Pitch-ready stat: "$5.3 billion spent. Thousands of recommendations made. Care leavers still die 25 years earlier than the general population. The evidence isn't missing — the investment in solutions is."
- Another pitch angle: "The average cost per recommendation across all tracked inquiries is over $1 million. What if even 1% of that spending went directly to frontline support?"
💼 NFP Salary & Overhead Analysis
18 roles from CEO to frontline worker
The core problem: The care leaver sector is an industry that employs everyone except care leavers. Funding flows to executive salaries and overheads, not to frontline services or lived experience leadership.
- The salary gap is up to 5x: CEO salaries range from $111K–$310K while frontline care workers earn $55K–$75K.
- Only 1 of 18 roles requires lived experience — the Lived Experience Consultant/Peer Worker — and it's the lowest-paid permanent role in the entire database at ~$65K.
- Academic salaries exceed practitioner salaries: Researchers earn $165K–$230K studying the same people who earn $55K–$75K doing the actual work on the ground.
- External consultants: Big 4 firms and similar charge $800–$2,500/day for work that rarely reaches frontline delivery.
- Pitch-ready stat: "For every $1 spent on a frontline care worker's salary, $3.50 goes to executives, researchers, and consultants who have never spent a night in care."
📣 Media & Publications Tracker
15 entries — founder credibility trail
Strategic observation: The founder's online presence already positions her as a systems strategist and social entrepreneur, not a victim. This is the credibility edge — the narrative is professional, evidence-based, and solutions-focused.
- Standout achievement: The case study "Sasha" in the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee 2025 Report — lived experience embedded in federal government economic policy.
- Conference credibility: StartSpace panel at State Library Victoria on neurodiversity and entrepreneurship.
- Multiple web properties: kaytmcgeary.com.au (professional), yoursoscoach.com (coaching), ACE Gear Bags (social enterprise). Professional branding already established.
- Blog foundation: Gears' Gazette + "The Missing Middle" published. Ready to redevelop and scale.
🔗 Cross-Database Connections
The core insight:
Australia has spent $5.3 billion on inquiries. The NFP sector employs executives at $220K+ salaries to manage the problem. Only 1 in 18 roles requires lived experience. Care leavers still die 25 years earlier than the general population. There are 47 organisations serving care leavers nationally — zero are specifically for care-experienced mothers. The evidence base contains 100+ reports saying the same thing. The money is there. The research is there. The solutions are not. That's what ACE Hub exists to change.
- Cost-of-Reports ↔ NFP Salaries: The money spent on reports ($5.3B) flows to the same ecosystem of executives and consultants tracked in the salary database.
- Research ↔ Content Planner: Every content piece in the planner is backed by the 106-entry research database.
- Frontline Orgs ↔ Grants: The grants database can be matched to frontline organisations to identify which orgs could benefit from which funding.
- NFP Salaries ↔ Research: The research shows care leavers face lifelong disadvantage. The salary data shows the sector designed to help them pays everyone except them.
Data compiled and analysed by Kayt McGeary (CEP), March 2026.
What you've read here is the foundation — the evidence layer beneath a much larger body of work that includes a social enterprise, a content platform, a resource hub, and a sustainable revenue strategy. This data exists because the gaps are real, the problem is documented, and the solution is already being built.
There's plenty more to show you. Let's chat. — Kayt
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