Wednesday, 17 June 2026

 Anasina GRAY-BARBERIO (Northern Metropolitan) (18:52): (2593) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Children, and the action I seek is an increase in care allowances for foster carers. Two harrowing reports were recently released on the state of Victoria’s out-of-home care system: the Commission for Children and Young People’s report Left Behind and the Victorian Auditor-General’s report Out-of-Home Care Services. These two reports paint a deeply concerning picture of systems that are failing some of Victoria’s most vulnerable children. The Auditor-General’s report found that Victoria’s 9353 children in out-of-home care are not having their needs fully met by the government. This Allan Labor government is failing to meet legislative requirements to keep siblings together and minimise children moving around frequently. For some cohorts the risk of this is much higher, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children with disability facing higher rates of sibling separation and older children being more likely to have placements changed multiple times. Victoria is not on track to meet Closing the Gap targets, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are over-represented in care, with almost one in 10 children placed in out-of-home care being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

At the same time, fewer people are putting their hands up to become foster carers, because care allowances do not reflect the real cost of raising a child. Victoria provides the lowest allowance in the country for the youngest children. Most kinship carers are older women, often grandmothers, who are already facing financial and health challenges. This is a gendered issue that this government needs to address and can no longer ignore. The Auditor-General’s report also finds that the department had repeatedly advised the government of critical system constraints and had sought funding to address them. Despite these warnings the Allan Labor government failed to provide the funding required, leaving known risks unresolved. The Commission for Children and Young People described a system that too often refers families elsewhere and closes their cases, even when the challenges they face remain unresolved. Families are left navigating fragmented and overstretched services, while children continue to live with significant risk.

We know what helps keep children safe: secure housing, family violence prevention, mental health support, alcohol and other drug services, financial security and strong community-led services. Yet too many families are unable to access that support until circumstances have deteriorated to the point where child protection intervention becomes necessary. The findings in these reports should be a wake-up call. Our child protection system is not working. It is fragmented, underfunded and failing Victorian children. A system that responds after harm has occurred is not good enough. The Greens call on the government to do better.