Foster Care Victoria

Major components of disability programs for foster care are respite care and support through “Friends”. On Monday night Four Corners aired a program called “In My Shoes”, a very confronting perspective of why disability supports such as these are necessary for families struggling to cope with the 24hour needs of children with Disabilities. Although I highly recommend the program or even just a read of the transcript for an insight into challenges faced, there seem to be some inaccuracies in the representation of supports such as respite care which are available.

I would also like to relate some of the statements made by the program to the Victorian context (I don’t know enough about the specifics in other states to comment more broadly).

This program interviewed Sharon Guest and Stuart Neale, caring for their severely disabled daughter, Jessie, who said that the only choices offered to them was to continue caring without support or relinquish their child to Child Protection (in NSW, DOCs). DOCs has actually responded to these statements and other ambigous claims, which was actually a relief to read since the allegations are really out of sink with what I know to be the case here in Victoria. Its a shame that these points couldn’t be cleared up before the program went to air.

The organisation I work for offers families of children with disabilities Respite Care or “Shared Family Care”. For example, a child might live with a foster carer during the week, and at home on the weekends. These kinds of options are negotiated with the family according to their needs and the ability we have to meet them. These are what we call Voluntary Placements and can be ended any time by the family.

The Disability Program supports all children up to the age of 18 in this type of Out of Home Care.

I also would like to mention that the majority of children supported by the Disability Program have Intellectual Disabilities, such as developmental delays or autism, rather than the common perception of disability as automatically associated with wheel-chairs. Like all programs though, the Disability Program is chronically short of carers which makes finding ideal placements sometimes very difficult.

Happily, it seems that some amendments in this year’s Federal Budget are pleasing carer groups and families, which is great news for families.  

The Age has echoed our recent experiences in increases in the number of babies and young children in Victoria. This article also has some tangible stats which helps give some perspective to the issue, and I think is a more genuine interrogation of why this is occurring, in this case, attributed to the baby boom. I’m no expert so I could neither endorse or reject this opinion, but it is an interesting idea to add to the mix.

Of course, add we’ve mentioned before, an increase in babies needing placements added to a strained supply of carers, particularly those available for the amount of time needed to care for a baby (ie. not in paid employment) and its little wonder we’ve been challenged in this respect over the past few months.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank every foster carer for invaluable contributions to the lives of countless children and young people, and towards supporting and building stronger communities.

Foster care agencies rely on carers to provide full-time care, short-term, emergency, respite and mentorship, through to helping out with recruitment promotion and administration. Without volunteers, foster care would not exist.

The National Volunteers Week website suggests these ideas for doing your bit for this week.

• Call talkback radio and mention it is National Volunteer Week and that you would like to say thank you to every volunteer listening
•  Write a letter to the editor of your major daily newspaper thanking volunteers
• Personally say thank you to anyone you know who volunteers
• Suggest to your employers that they say thank you to staff members who volunteer and recognise their efforts
• Download the Certificate of Appreciation template and use that to recognise volunteers in your group

They also have a Fast Facts sheet.   

National Volunteers week is also a great reminder of the need for more people to become involved. For anyone who is considering becoming a carer, there will be an information night tonight in Ashburton, see the events listing for more details.   

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh appeared on the ABC’s Life Matters the other day discussing a new scheme to jail parents who leave children unsupervised to do things such as gambling, drinking or shopping.

While most of us would agree that leaving young children unsupervised for long periods of time for any reason is unwise and potentially life-threatening to these children, it seems like a huge jump from there to incarcerating their absent parents. Let’s think about our goals here for a minute - surely the primary problem here is that young children are being left without a caregiver for long periods of time? This being the case, incarcerating their primary caregiver, therefore making them unable to provide care for their child at all, seems like a rather self-defeating measure.

We must also take into account the huge cost of such an exercise as well as the potential strain on the already struggling foster care system. By putting in to place such a scheme we would also be knowingly placing some of the most vulnerable members of society in a criminogenic environment, which is in itself a major concern.

Surely the sensible thing to do is provide education and support to assist parents in understanding the needs of their children. Sanctions may be appropriate for repeat offenders, but let them be productive - compulsory attendance at parenting programs or a supervision order. More primary caregivers in prison is not going to solve anyone’s problems, least of all those of the child.

The audio can be found here, and a related article from the ABC website can be found here.

The Pyjama Foundation… taking time to read aloud to children    

The Pyjama Foundation Mentor Training Program equips volunteer angels to read aloud to children in foster care on a weekly basis.  The Program offers foster parents support and a well-deserved respite.  Our angels provide extra READING ALOUD experiences for children in care to increase the number of books read aloud to them and:

• assist improve their levels of literacy
• inspire a love of learning and a belief in self-worth
• help them to become confident people valued by our society

The Pyjama Foundation highlights the national importance READING ALOUD TO ALL AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN.

Thanks for letting us know about this organisation, Helen, what fantastic work!

Many foster care agencies also run mentorship type programs with various emphases and called various things, such as “Big Brother, Big Sister”, “Friends” and many others, but this is the first I’ve heard of a program specifically to support foster carers and foster children with literacy in particular. Currently Pyjama Foundation runs out of Queensland but we look forward to the national roll out!    

With These Hands is an exhibition which seeks to create a space for people to reflect upon the expereince of Child Sexual Abuse. The event will open on the 22nd of May. The Chapel on Station Gallery is located on the corner of Station St and Ellingworth Parade, Box Hill.

Sadly, many children who come into care have experienced some form of abuse, including sexual abuse. While the impacts and supports for children who have been victims of abuse is covered in the training program offered by agencies, it remains, for many carers, one of the most emotionally challenging aspects of the role.

Although I agree with most of this report, I think there is room to increase funding without running the risk of attracting people for the wrong reasons, ie. money. Needless to say, there are many many differing opinions out there!

You can also listen to this story.

Anyone who lives in the Manningham or Whitehorse area is invited the Information Evening tomorrow night (May 6th) at 47-53 Tunstall Rd, Doncaster East (Baptist Church), beginning at 7.30.

If you’re not in this area see out Events Listing for other locations or fill out this online form for someone to contact you from your area.

Kinship care is when a child is placed under the care of a family member, often a grandparent, Aunt or Uncle, and as The Age has reported today, its on the rise.

Kinship care is often seen as preferable to a foster care placement outside the child’s family where it is appropriate and available. But the telling part of this article is the quote from Cathy Humphreys, a Melbourne University professor in child and family welfare, “It [Kinship Care] can be very good or it can be very difficult, so each situation has to be looked at differently. It’s not one size fits all.”

*This photo belongs to the Herald Sun

Yesterday’s article, Hard Times Foster and Carer Crisisin the Herald Sun has sparked quite a response with many calls to the Centre for Excellence from people wanting to find out more which is fantastic news.

Although the online comments appear to show a) a misunderstanding in the community about foster care and how the system works, and b) some disgruntled past and potential carers frustrated at a lack of support and resources.

To the latter category of people, I hear you and I agree, though I think we should all raise our hats to both DHS workers and foster care workers alike for their perseverance in a thankless, stressful, under-paid, under-staffed, under-funded and under-resourced job. While I am sorry to hear of negative experiences of foster care all I can say is that we are all doing the best we can.

To the former category, removal of children is never an easy decision and is always a last resort. This issue is completely separate Apology made on February 13th which acknowledged the injustice of forced removal based on race, rather than on the safety and best interests of the child. Foster care is the temporary care of a child where the hope is always on reunification with the birth family. Foster carers are not expected to be perfect but it is a responsibility of those in the field to make sure that a child is safe from harm and provided with adequate care.

Although foster care is a challenging role at times, as Kylie will attest, it is also an immensely rewarding one.

Anyone interested should consider coming along to an information evening, check the events listing for details.