Wednesday, 1 May 2024

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (17:33): (859) My adjournment matter is to the Minister for Children to address the imbalances in Victoria’s foster care system. Recently I met Carol, a devoted foster carer for many years. She is struggling in a system that makes it difficult to provide care. Victoria’s care allowance is inadequate. It does not cover the costs of care, especially therapeutic supports to aid healing and recovery from abuse and neglect. There are major structural problems in the foster care system, and Carol is not alone in her concerns.

The Foster Care Association of Victoria is the peak body for foster carers and has consistently raised these issues with the department. They have set up a care allowance petition, which has over 2300 submissions and widespread support. The allowance of Victoria is out of step with the costs of raising a child with significant needs due to their trauma backgrounds and has failed to keep pace with rising living costs. The level 1 Victorian care allowance is the lowest of any state or territory in Australia, and volunteer carers are being left to meet the shortfall, further disadvantaging young people who need our support.

The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing commissioned research on the adequacy and structure of the care allowance in 2022, but that information has been kept cabinet in confidence and is not publicly available despite numerous requests. It showed that there are reported shortfalls in the current allocation for carer allowances. There are willing carers out there who just cannot afford to take on this role, and vulnerable children are paying the price. As carers leave the system in droves, children are at risk of ending up in crisis accommodation or residential care, which is significantly more expensive than having children in home-based foster care.

Carol shared some of the challenges of Victoria’s foster care system. In regional areas, carers need to drive longer distances to take children to appointments, kinder, schools and sport and spend time with their biological family, and the allowance does not cover these costs. There is no provision for children who return home and then come back into care to go back to the same carer. Carers often do not have the opportunity to say goodbye or check up on children that have been in their care. Foster children could be given a full-time school aide to address poor education outcomes, evidenced in the recent Let Us Learn report. Court orders appear to value the parents’ rights to see their child over the child’s education and emotional health and the trauma it causes the child. Court cases can also be repeatedly adjourned, leaving children with no answers and no future. Foster carers find it very hard to get respite.

The Victorian government must prioritise the needs of our vulnerable children, provide better financial support and service delivery and stop relying on the goodwill of volunteer carers to subsidise state care. Our foster carers should be supported, not punished, for the incredible work they do.