Wednesday, 31 May 2023

 Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:16): (164) I have got another question for the Minister for Child Protection and Family Services. Minister, as you know, Victoria loses more foster carers every year than any other state or territory – 580 at last count. The CEO of the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare Deb Tsorbaris said over the weekend that:

If we keep going like this, in five years’ time we’ll have almost no foster carers left.

A secret report to government recommends an increase in the foster carer allowance of over 60 per cent to retain more carers. Why has the minister failed to raise the care allowance by a single cent?

 Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers, Minister for Child Protection and Family Services) (12:16): Thank you, Dr Bach, for the question. Can I also thank foster carers for the important work that they do for children and for their communities day in, day out, and can I also acknowledge the important work that Deb Tsorbaris and others in the community services organisations do in advocating for both their community service organisation members but also the foster carers that are attached to their organisations. The contribution that they make is important in this conversation, which is a conversation we have had in this chamber a number of times over the first half of this year.

I have a number of times outlined that the government does value foster carers and the contribution that they make in caring for some of our most vulnerable children. We do provide a care allowance for foster carers. The care allowance does contribute towards the day-to-day cost of caring for each child in care, and it is dependent on the ages and the needs of the child. Higher care allowances are determined on a case-by-case basis as determined by the needs of the child and the family at that particular time of the assessment and in relation to ongoing specialist or support needs that that family might have in order to care for the child in their home. We also have a series of additional allowances. We have a new placement allowance for level 1 allowance placements in their first six months, for example, and we also have education assistance payments per year until a child is 18 to assist with meeting the educational costs of children in care. So we do have a number of allowances, both the principal allowance and additional allowances, that recognise the financial contribution that foster carers do make. On 31 May we also made a supplementary payment of $650 per eligible child placement, which was paid to carers in addition to their usual care allowance payments.

So, Dr Bach, as you know, we have had these conversations a number of times in this chamber, and we do recognise the important work. We have spoken with people like Deb Tsorbaris and other advocates for foster carers, and we do recognise certainly the needs of those carers. This was a record investment in terms of the child protection and family services system, and there has been a huge injection to the system overall, which will obviously have an impact on all children who are in the system in one way or another. And the work that we have done in recently providing this supplementary payment in addition to the other allowances and the other supports that we provide to foster carers is an important recognition of the significant and important contribution they make to caring for some of our most vulnerable children.

 Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:19): Thank you, Minister, for that response, and I note in particular your comments regarding the supplementary payment. This has been a matter of some recent commentary as well. Kinship Carers Victoria said, specifically regarding the supplementary payment, that it is not even enough to ‘lift carers out of poverty’. Are they wrong, Minister?

 Lizzie BLANDTHORN (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers, Minister for Child Protection and Family Services) (12:19): Thank you, Dr Bach, for the question. Can I at the outset again acknowledge the sacrifice that we know that all carers make when they take children into their care. We know that the children who are in foster care or who are in kinship care are some of the most vulnerable children in our community, and we acknowledge that foster carers make many, many sacrifices in terms of providing care for those children. The work that they do is really commendable. As I have said a number of times, in many respects they are modern-day saints for the work that they do. We do acknowledge the work that they do and we do in many ways support it, from the allowances that I outlined in my initial remarks to your first question, both in relation to the additional allowances and in relation to the supplementary allowance that was issued on 31 May. Of course there are many other ways – as I have also outlined in this chamber when you have asked this question before, Dr Bach, in relation to the other supports – that we do provide for carers. The care support help desk, of $5.8 million – (Time expired)