The actual rate of sexual abuse suffered by children in out-of-home care may never be known because there are no witnesses to the abuse.
And regulators across the country are still struggling to find effective ways to prevent abuse or act on allegations.
A royal commission sitting in Sydney is investigating the system that sees up to 50,000 children placed in foster care, kinship care or small residential care homes.
On Friday, ombudsmen from states and territories were quizzed by the commission but could shed little or no light on whether incidents of abuse were increasing or decreasing.
The total absence of national data, or even comprehensive data from states and territories, has plagued the commission since the investigation began last March.
Each jurisdiction has a different oversight system. In NSW the ombudsman's office has a greater role in this respect than those in other states.
Steve Kinmond, the deputy ombudsman in NSW, could tell the commission that last year his office received 63 notifications of sexual misconduct in OOHC and 191 notifications from the non-care sector, which includes schools.
There are 19,000 children in NSW OOHC and about 750,000 in the education system.
Mr Kinmond said there were proportionally more complaints in the education sector, with 70 people charged with one of more offences, and only 30 in out-of-home care.
These figures weren't surprising, he added.
"In the education sector it is a very different context, the behaviour is less intimate, it's more open."
Mr Kinmond said it was an enormous challenge in ensuring these types of matters come to light.
"If we have a child who is vulnerable, and of course many are very vulnerable, then we need to have the best systems in place in terms of seeking to encourage, to act on those cases."
The commission will publish a consultation paper identifying OOHC areas that need urgent change.
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