This week is Foster and Kinship Care Week, celebrating the carers who provide safe and loving homes for some of the state’s 14,000 children currently in the out-of-home care (OOHC) system across the state.
The NSW Government recognises and supports the important work that these outstanding members of the community do through their dedication to children who cannot live safely with their parents. We acknowledge that the only way we can continue to support children in the system is to better support their foster carers as well.
The system desperately needs another 1,000 foster carers to stop children ending up in emergency accommodation.
Anyone can be a foster carer. It doesn’t matter if you rent or own your home, or are single, a couple or a family. Emergency foster care can be for one night, a few days, or up to 12 weeks. This is a great way to get started and see if being a foster carer is right for you.
This week, the NSW Government announced it will ban 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. These placements can cost upwards of $2 million per child per year. This announcement would not have been possible without the dedication of emergency foster carers.
Minister for Families and Communities Kate Washington thanked foster and kinship carers for their dedication, compassion and care, and the huge difference they have made in the lives of the children.
“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.
“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.”
From August, the government has also make paid parental leave available to NSW Government employees who are providing ongoing foster placements for children in OOHC.
To inquire about becoming a foster carer, go to nsw.gov.au/community-services/foster-relative-and-kinship-care/become-a-foster-carer
Foster and Kinship Care Week runs from September 8 to September 14.
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