THE invaluable work of foster carers is being celebrated this week during Foster and Kinship Care Week in the face of an increasingly critical shortage.
This time a year ago, the NSW Minister for Families and Communities Kate Washington joined forces with Adopt Change to put out an SOS call for 600 new foster carers.
This year, the ask is 1000 more carers.
Renee Carter, CEO of Adopt Change, said dwindling numbers of carers was a national trend.
"We have an ageing carer population, and where you might have had someone staying at home, that is no longer the case," Ms Carter said.
"It's natural attrition, but we've also seen people leave the system."
'Support' those in the role
It was important to look after carers already in the role, to sustain those placements and also because it had proven to be the best way to recruit new carers - positive word of mouth, Ms Carter said.
"It's a big role to become a carer and in this day and age, with the rising cost of living, there's extra challenges and the role needs to be better supported in some really practical ways including financial support."
It was not about getting a salary, but ensuring that children had funded access to therapeutic supports, rather than expecting carers to pay for that out of their own pockets.
Adopt Change would also like to see the recent introduction of parental leave to NSW Government employees who are providing ongoing foster placements for children in OOHC to foster carers across the board, as well as access to respite care.
Options
"Becoming a carer is about joining a community of carers, and that can be part-time care, and emergency care, and it might just be for a few nights, or months, or longer term," Ms Carter said.
The troubled out-of-home-care and child protection system has come under fire in recent reports from the Auditor-General, the NSW Ombudsman, the Children's Guardian and the NSW Advocate for Children and Young People.
There are more to come from the NSW Ombudsman, along with a report from the independent pricing tribunal, and an out-of-home care system review due in October.
Ms Washington said her government's ban on the use of unaccredited Alternative Care Arrangements (ACAs) where vulnerable children are often placed in hotels and motels and looked after by rotating shift workers instead of foster carers, would not have been possible without the dedication of emergency foster carers.
The ban was announced last week (August 3) and follows the government's recruitment of 200 emergency foster carers since July 2022, with 239 others on the way.
Reform agenda
That recruitment was a key part of the government's $224 million investment in the OOHC system, Ms Washington said.
"Foster and kinship carers have one of the most important roles in our community - providing a safe place for kids who have nowhere else to go," she said.
"These carers make a real difference, every day, in the lives of children and young people. I sincerely thank all our wonderful carers for everything they do.
"Foster and Kinship Care Week also provides an important opportunity to highlight the desperate need for more foster carers across the state. If you have ever thought about being a foster carer, we want to hear from you.
"We are committed to building a better child protection system where foster carers feel more supported in the critical role they play in caring for vulnerable children."
