President of the Board of Directors FCAV, Megan Sadlier, spoke at the FCAV Carer Celebration and AGM for Foster Care Week 2024
“Hello and I also acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, the traditional owners of country on which we meet today and pay my respects to their elders past and present. I extend my respect to all Aboriginal people here today and thank you all for coming.
I am honoured to meet and hear from many carers from a range of demographics in my role as President of the FCAV.
It is our commonality of purpose which strikes me.
This year, through the FCAV carer census we have heard the voice of carers which says that over 86% of us are driven to become carers and to remain carers by the positive change and growth and our part in setting a brighter future for the children in our care.
Unfortunately, the commonality of experience for carers doesn’t stop there.
The FCAV carer census found that over 30% of carers find the experience of the system to be the SINGLE most challenging aspect of being a foster carer. Although 62% of respondents report caring for a child or young person with a physical or intellectual disability or impairment, caring for the children and young people is not what is driving our devastating attrition rates here in Victoria.
I was not alone either in the dread I felt with the FCAV snapshot figures this year showing the net loss of another 93 households from Victoria’s carer pool. The seriously deficient financial supports are ruining carers. The challenges of complex behaviours are too much for some, but it is the system itself and the lack of respect they feel in the system that means carers are not resilient to these other challenges.
A sophisticated and well-formed home-based care system should be able to provide for the personhood, needs and rights of everyone involved in the protection of its children and young people. It should be able to spread its focus to meet the needs of children and young people, the needs of families and the needs of the carers living and breathing the provision of care on its behalf.
It seems obvious to us here at the FCAV, that meeting the needs of carers is integral to meeting the needs of the children and young people in their care, yet the system today is losing its capacity to understand that carers are people who are impacted by decisions and systemic issues, financial constraints and the loss of carers.
Carers must be heard, not instead of, but as well as families and children, in order to continue to provide their complex and vital volunteer role.
I am so pleased to be here today to recognise you. Did you know that only one in every 4000 households provides foster care to children and young people who are unable to live with family or kin?
It is our aim at the FCAV to support today’s carers in their vastly important role of stewarding tomorrow’s futures for the children in their care. We cannot let alternative care arrangements and residential care be the acceptable option for children as young as 6. Home-based foster care is needed today and needs to be protected for the children of tomorrow.
As President, it is an honour to lead FCAV’s Board in driving the strategic focus of the FCAV as a carer-led and carer-informed service of supports, advocacy and offerings that promote the needs and wellbeing of today’s carers, so that we can continue into tomorrow’s future.
I thank you all for putting your hand up and being part of children’s lives today and providing a foundation for their future.
