The Child Protection system requires a well-resourced foster care program to provide the necessary court ordered home-based care placements for children who are unable to live with their parents, kin or families.
Victoria is currently experiencing a severe shortage of foster carers with AIHW data showing that twice the number of carers are leaving the system than are being recruited. Without volunteer foster carers children are more likely to be placed in expensive residential care or contingency arrangements such as motels. This situation requires urgent action because of the detrimental consequences for children and because it is expensive and financially unsustainable for the care system.
While all jurisdictions in Australia have experienced challenges in recruiting and retaining foster carers, Victoria stands out with the highest ratio of carers leaving the care system. There are a range of factors which explain Victoria’s high carer attrition rate including (but not limited to);
lowest level 1 Care Allowance in Australia;
inadequate funding for health and education supports which leaves carers out of pocket for care related expenses;
carer recruitment programs which are not industry best practice;
poor or non-existent service delivery standards;
lack of carer respect and acknowledgement.
The FCAV has developed an advocacy platform which seeks to address the service delivery and systemic issues which are driving carer high attrition rates, and which prevents successful carer recruitment. The FCAV has assembled a suite of information to inform the development of its platform which is based on three types of information/reporting essential for informed decision making including:
statistical data,
research, and
analysis.
The FCAV’s library of Child Protection information is part of its corporate contribution to the ongoing dialogue in the sector about how best to reform Victorian’s Child Protection system so that it is effective for the 21st century.
