Foster Care Victoria

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.

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.

Maroondah Leader had this report in last week’s paper.

Indeed, homelessness and “Teens sleep rough” are the hidden daily tragedies occurring throughout Melbourne’s East. Similarly, the daily miracles undertaken by foster carers everyday are just as hidden. With steadily declining numbers of carers available, foster care placements for children and young people of all ages are becoming increasingly difficult to make.

In the context of the Australia’s Homeless Youth report’s findings that “Young people with a ‘care background’ are over-represented in the youth homeless population”, carers involved in the Adolescent Care Program (ACP) focus on the transferal of life skills towards independence. In this way, each young person will hopefully see a string of opportunities in front of them as they venture into adulthood, rather than insurmountable obstacles leading to cycles of risk and harm.

The Australia’s Homeless Youth report was a timely reminder of why foster care is the responsibility of us all.

Anglicare Victoria invites anyone who would like to know more about foster care to an Information Evening or call 1300 889 335.

CREATE Foundation has released a report calling for supports for children with experience of State care, including foster care, to be extended past the current cut off of 18. The story was reported by ABC this morning.

Although there are carers who continue to offer their home to children past their 18th birthday, there are many, many cases where young people are left to their own devices to navigate difficult housing situations, fiances, employment, education and other major accomplishments in life. Reimbursements for carers cease, as well as funding for case workers and other agency supports.

The carers and worker in the Adolescent Community Placement program (ACP) are well aware of the challenges facing young people after their 18th birthday and in the years leading up place emphases on imparting independent life-skills on those in their care. Nevertheless, its a massive and often solitary leap.

According to the report:

A year after leaving care, half of the young people have had a period of homelessness. Almost half will be unemployed, nearly a third of women will have become pregnant, half would have considered or attempted suicide, and almost half will have committed a crime.

The story is not new though, The Age reported this story back in 2005, and it was also echoed in SBS’s Insight program.

This blog is becoming “Life Matters Watch” but I would like to begin by commending their coverage of the foster care issue over the past weeks/months.

This morning Joe Tucci of the Australian Childhood Foundation (you may remember his name from the Mandatory Reporting of Abuse debate we discussed a few weeks a ago) and Kate Cairns were the guests talking about Therapeutic foster care or “advanced” foster care as it was called on the program.

I’ve had quite a bit to do with AChFover the past few months and have found their knowledge not only interesting but a valuable resource for foster carers. I also know many of the carers who have done the Circle training in particular run by AChf and who are involved with the Circle program and all the reports I have heard have been fantastic. Carers say that the access to professional advice and supports, as well as the neurological understanding of trauma as explained in the training all combined to help their ability to care for children. But one of the most important aspects of this particular program has been the elevation of the status of the carer to where carers are included in discussion and consulted about their knowledge of the child to work towards more complete care plans. This process has been referred to the professionalisation of foster care.

While these are all wonderful things, Sarah McDonald’s initial questions really went to the heart of the issue: Can we expect this of carers; that is, 24 hour, 7 day a week volunteers given only modest reimbursements? Its a huge job these amazing families are undertaking and we desperately need more to do the same. Victoria is leading the way with programs, hopefully Victoria can also lead Australia towards greater recognition of carers through funding and other crucial supports. Recognition and respect throughout our community of foster care as a valid and important role is key to getting more people involved, and in encouraging carers to continue.

As an aside for current carers in Melbourne’s East, AChF is running training again in June. Contact your caseworker or the Recruitment team in Bayswater if you would like more details.

This morning on Radio National’s Life Matters two issues related to Out of Home Care were raised in very interesting ways.

The first came from a (former?) foster carer who was raising the problem of bureaucrats vs what she calls “realocrats”- those people with real experiences of the issues on the ground. Helen Kinniburgh certainly made a good case for what I think many of us have been frustrated with after seeing report after report, recommendation after recommendation without avenues for the voices of foster carers and other volunteers (and workers in various fields I should add) being heard.

While we certainly advocate for changes as we see fit, the summit would have really benefited from some of this rich experience.

The second was from CBC in Canada and looked at Grandparents who care in a kinship care arrangement. Again, I think it is vitally important for these under the radar issues to be given a platform in the hope that supports will follow.

With the release of the Youth Homelessness report there have been quite a few discussions and debates across the media in relation to tackling this issue.

Also, The Oasis, a documentary on this subject will be shown on ABC tomorrow night looks to be very interesting and although it won’t look at foster care specifically, many of the issues that put families and individuals at risk of child protection concerns also increase risks of homelessness. The accompanying website is also worth exploration.

While on the subject of national issues, perhaps this report is opportunistic in it’s timing with the 2020 Summit including a forum on “Strengthening Communities, Supporting Families and Social Inclusion”.

Our post about the issue of mandatory reporting of abuse for religious leaders attracted quite a lot of attention. Interestingly this article in Maroondah’s Leader also takes up the debate again, looking at responses from churches.

A Catholic priest said he though the church should question the church’s stance, adding “I believe it’s up to the conscience to report it to the police”.

Is it enough- or even fair- to ask religious leaders to make that call?    

There may be a change in guidelines for child-safe car travel.  Full details here.