Late last week, ‘The Sun Herald’ published an article by Amber Schultz that outlined that “NSW’s foster carers are leaving the system in droves, with nearly 1,000 authorised carers quitting in the past year. There were 17,623 authorised carers in December 2022, compared to 16,643 in December 2023.
Foster carers that were interviewed by ‘The Sun Herald’ claimed that they were struggling with the low payments they received, limited support for children with behavioural issues, poor communication with agencies (which placed the children in their care and the lack of an independent body to oversee the sector).
The Department of Communities and Justice manages 45 per cent of the households in the Carers Register, non-government organisations manage the other 55 per cent.
There are 11,976 households with one or more registered carers and nearly 15,000 children in need of care and protection. According to the article in ‘The Sun Herald’, just one third of these children are placed with foster care families.
Out-of-home care is provided to children and young people who are unable to live with their own families. Foster carers take on the ‘parent like’ responsibilities for a period of time, to provide a safe, nurturing and secure family like environment for children and young people needing care.
Reform of child protection system
The NSW Government is “embarking on significant reform of the child protection system, and a critical element of that reform will be more support for foster carers.”
“Each year, 600 new foster carers are needed in NSW to take care of children who can’t live safely at home. Carers can be family members or foster carers, and come from a diverse range of backgrounds and all walks of life,” states the Department of Communities and Justice media release from September 2023.
The Department of Communities and Justice established a team in November 2023 to move children from High-Cost Emergency Arrangements (HCEA) to more suitable arrangements. HCEA’s place children in hotels, motels, serviced apartments, or rental accommodation, where they are cared for by a rotating roster of shift workers. These type of arrangements can cost up to $2 million a year for each child.
Through intensive “family finding, where caseworkers search out possible family connections who might be able to care for the child under kinship care arrangements, matching children to newly recruited emergency foster carers, working with NGO partners to fill vacancies in their contracts with government and re-negotiating the amount paid to HCEA providers.
The Department of Communities and Justice is “working to reduce reliance on alternative care arrangements, where for-profit labour hire firms provide staff to supervise children.”
The Burdekin Foster Care difference
The Burdekin Association helps young people who, for various reasons, can’t live with their family. A Burdekin foster carer provides young people with a safe, positive, nurturing home to live in, a listening ear and practical day-to-day assistance.
The main difference? At The Burdekin Association, we can provide a home RENT FREE or pay some of the rent/mortgage for foster carers. We adapt and work with foster carers to ensure that they are provided with weekly wrap-around support and do not need to shoulder any financial burden. That way, they can focus on the most important thing – giving our young people what they need.
The length of commitment as a foster carer can be tailored to the foster carer’s needs – if they can only commit for a couple of years – we can absolutely work with that, and any longer is an absolute bonus!
The Burdekin Association provides foster carers with a team of support professionals, 24 hour on-call assistance, regular respite and ongoing training.
The Burdekin Association specialises in fostering teenagers (sometimes tweens), when they are at their most vulnerable and need the most support.
Burdekin Foster Carers are:
- Supported 24 hours a day with on-call assistance.
- Able to receive 24 days respite per year.
- Able to receive a carer allowance to meet the needs of the child or young person placed in their care.
- Able to undertake fostering within a Burdekin property, should their own home not be suitable.
- Are supported weekly by Burdekin staff and provided with preparatory and ongoing training throughout their foster care journey.
Foster carers do not receive formal wages. A foster carer allowance is provided to help ensure the child has everything that they need. This allowance is based on the age of the child being cared for.
As with all parents, foster carers may be eligible for financial assistance through Centrelink, depending on their work and financial circumstances.
Want more information?
There are six steps to becoming a foster carer with The Burdekin Association. Find out more here…
