Embattled out-of-home care provider Premier Youthworks is poised to pick up new government contracts worth millions of dollars, despite a sustained attack by whistleblowers and legal advocates who say it is failing Canberra and Newcastle's most vulnerable children.
Premier Youthworks is under fire on multiple fronts, with complaints spanning its governance and financial management to allegations of squalid and unsafe conditions within some of its properties.
The fresh concerns have been raised as part of a joint Canberra Times and Newcastle Herald investigation into the company, which cares for more than 80 children across NSW and the ACT.
They also arise more than 12 months after a damning Four Corners expose shone a spotlight on Premier Youthworks.
Questions have now been raised about whether ACT and NSW-government regulators are providing proper oversight of the sector.
A source familiar with the company's inner workings said he was stunned at a lack of meaningful action by either its management or the state government since the Four Corners broadcast, while standards - he believed - had further deteriorated.
"My way of looking at it is that this time next month, it will be 12 months since the Four Corners report and nothing has been learnt and nothing has changed. Much to my shock - I wasn't prepared for this," he said.
Unlike most other players in the sector, Premier Youthworks is a for-profit venture.
The source said the drive for revenue was having a "profound negative impact on the care and experiences that the young people get".
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But a company spokesperson hit back at the allegations.
"We absolutely reject this and question the motives of whoever is making such statements," the spokesman said.
Managing director Lisa Glen - who founded Premier Youthworks 16 years ago - agreed to an interview with Fairfax Media at the company's headquarters in Cardiff, NSW.
She defended the quality of care received by the children and said the criticism amounted to the isolated concerns of a small number of disgruntled former employees.
"If I wanted to do it to be rich, I would have chosen a much easier business," said Ms Glen, who remains the company's sole director and shareholder.
"I would have worked at Dusk and put nice candles on the shelves. Like this is tough, it's really really tough ??? people can sit back and say that, but they can come and walk in my shoes for a little while."
Premier Youthworks received more than $44 million in taxpayer funding between 2013, shared across 15 residential care homes in the ACT and 20 in the Newcastle region.
Children and teenagers are grouped together in Premier homes when they are unable to live with their families, often because the government has decided they are at risk of abuse or neglect.
The NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) has been tendering for new residential care contracts, due to begin in 2018, and sources said Premier Youthworks was in the frame to renew or potentially grow the number of children in its care.
Following the Four Corners broadcast, FACS launched a review of the company, which is understood to have concluded in October.
But the department has refused to publicly release its findings or comment on what action, if any, has been taken as a result.
"A range of matters are being followed up with Premier Youthworks in the course of contract management," a FACS spokesperson said.
Ms Glen would not be drawn on what ground had been covered by the review, but admitted it had highlighted the need for more "transparency".
"It wasn't about us holding things back, we just need more transparency in our reporting because, again, we're different to other agencies within the sector," Ms Glen said.
She also said FACS was now "fully understanding" of controversial leasing arrangements surrounding a number of Premier's group homes in Newcastle.
Twelve of the homes are personally owned by Ms Glen and leased back to Premier Youthworks through a series of trusts linked to her super fund.
Taxpayers foot the bill for the rents paid by Premier Youthworks to Ms Glen, which are in some cases well above market rates.
Ms Glen denied she was charging the taxpayer exorbitant amounts and defended the arrangements as "common practice" within the sector. There was good reason for the inflated rents, she argued.
"They are not normal rentals. There's modifications that are made and there's the upkeep of them," she said. "What people don't really understand is that each of these houses is a big risk to me as well."
Additionally, Ms Glen is a director of Beam Wellbeing, a separate psychological services provider based at Cardiff.
When asked whether she benefited financially every time Premier referred one of its children to Beam for counselling, Ms Glen denied that was true.
However she admitted she had "stepped away" from dealings between the two organisations.
"I'm not part of any of the negotiations. So if the people that are looking after the clients here don't believe that Beam's the best provider, so be it, they go to another person," she said.
She dismissed suggestions her employees might still feel obligated to refer children to Beam.
"Everyone is acting in the best interests of the kids."
