Over $3.5 million in contracts were signed to cover overseas assessments and placements for young people in 2025 — more than twice the spending logged in similar records for the previous year.

A list of 20 contracts agreed by the Department of Child and Family Services was published this week in the Official Gazette in accordance with public access to information requirements.

The value of the arrangements, started in 2025, totalled $3,911,388, with $3,547,598 linked to overseas schools and institutions that offered assessments and treatment programmes.

A notice for contracts that began in 2024, published last January, showed similar spending amounted to $1,557,975.

In 2023, the total recorded in the Official Gazette notice for the DCFS psychoeducational programme was $1,796,104.

The department listed $1,720,005 in contracts for 2022 and $591,660 for 2021.

Tinée Furbert, the Minister of Youth, Social Development and Seniors, said this month that the DCFS reported 16 children who needed overseas treatment for complex mental, behavioural or educational needs in 2025, compared with eight in 2024.

She said the decision to send a child overseas was “based on professional assessment, with the child’s safety, wellbeing and dignity being paramount”.

The minister added: “Overseas therapeutic services are used only when a child’s needs cannot be met here at home and when delaying care would place that child or others at risk.”

A government spokeswoman said then that improved diagnostic tools and earlier intervention had helped to identify more children with “complex needs”.

The record showed that Devereux Advanced Behavioural Health Florida received $94,500 for residential academic and educational services, along with psychiatric and therapeutic programmes between February 24, 2025 and June 30, 2025.

Devereux Advanced Behavioural Health’s Glenholme School meanwhile received multiple contracts to provide therapeutic boarding school services.

The contracts included a yearlong July 1, 2025 contract valued at $306,600 and three contracts, each valued at $354,224, dated August 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.

Devereux is described on its website as a non-profit organisation providing “services, insight and leadership in the evolving field of behavioural healthcare”.

Devereux Florida was also included in a separate Pati notice, filed by Ageing and Disability Services under the Ministry of Youth, Social Development and Seniors Headquarters.

That contract, valued at $215,350, was listed as being for “residential care for complex behavioural needs client” and dated July 1, 2025 with a conclusion date in June this year.

The Uinta Academy Residential Treatment Programme received $212,703.75 for residential counselling and therapeutic services, educational and academic service along with psychiatric evaluations and assessments over the course of 2025.

The programme also received two contracts valued at $213,525 signed on January 23, 2025 and September 17, 2025.

The first contract is set to end this week, with the second continuing until September 16.

Uinta Academy, based in Utah, was described as a “multidimensional residential treatment centre for teens and young adults”.

Cardinal Cushing Centres Residential School received a $346,247 contract to provide a customised residential school for children with “complex developmental and intellectual disabilities”.

That contract was dated June 1 last year with an end date of June 30 this year.

The Massachusetts-based facility also received a second contract valued at $243,795 dated October 15, 2025 and set to end on June 30 this year.

The Harbour Point Behavioural Health Centre received two $113,310 contracts, both dated August 8, 2025, to provide comprehensive residential assessment and diagnostic programme until October 31 last year.

A third contract of the same value was dated November 24, 2025, with an end date on February 24 this year.

The Virginia-based centre offers residential treatment programmes for young people who struggle with general psychiatric disorders.

The Utah-based Huntsman Mental Health Institute received a $139,500 contract for an acute inpatient comprehensive assessment and treatment programme between March 3 and June 30, 2025.

The Tennessee-based King’s Daughters’ School received a $114,600 contract for a specialised comprehensive residential education programme dated August 1, 2025 with an end date of July 31 this year.

The Utah-based Elevations Residential Treatment Centre received a $260,000 contract to provide residential, counselling and therapeutic services, educational and academic services, together with psychiatric evaluations and assessments.

Other contracts listed in the notice included an agreement with Euphoria Music PTE Ltd, which received $53,100 for an overseas residential camp for 34 people through the Mirrors Programme.

The agreement was signed June 27, 2025 and is set to conclude on July 8 this year.

Newgen Software received a $160,800 annual database service agreement, set to conclude on March 31, 2026, while iWork BDA received $57,836 for new work stations.

Boston Children’s Hospital, meanwhile, received just over $92,000 for surgical and medical services through an April 14, 2025 agreement.

On December 31, the Government submitted a request for proposals for a comprehensive assessment and plan for childcare facilities operated by the DCFS.

The notice said that the project aimed to determine “whether the existing infrastructure can support modern residential childcare operations and to determine the most appropriate strategy, whether renovation, expansion or complete redevelopment, is now necessary”.

None of the four DCFS facilities, which together were said to have reached their capacity of 24 children, is able to meet the needs of those aged between 5 and 11.

A government spokeswoman said this month: “The Government continues to strengthen local mental health, therapeutic and educational supports through sustained, cross-ministry work and long-term capacity building.

“Strengthening local capacity remains a priority, with the long-term aim of reducing the need for overseas placements wherever possible.

“When local options cannot safely meet a child’s needs, the Government must act.”