Foster Care

Ms STINSON (Badcoe) (14:58): My question is to the Minister for Child Protection. Has the minister advocated for the establishment of a pilot project in which she would pair her friends with children in state care?

The Hon. R. SANDERSON (Adelaide—Minister for Child Protection) (14:58): As I have mentioned already, I have met with many, many people and there are many ideas that have been suggested. Certainly no, I have not advocated for my friends to be matched with people. Any person would need to go through a foster care agency and would need to go through full training. Yes, I have recommended that people I know go through foster care training and become foster carers. In fact, I would recommend it to anybody in this house. I know we have one foster carer already, and I thank you very much because that is a very, very important role. These children need families.

We have double the national average of children in out-of-home care. We know that it's the worst outcome for children, and we know that everything must be done to have children in family-based care. For a percentage of children, I am told that therapeutic residential care is actually better because of their trauma and complex needs. However, family-based care is the best care if they can't be with their own family.

I have recommended to many people that they consider foster care. They would do that in the same way that anyone else would. They would register with an agency, go through the appropriate training and then they are matched up through the agency—nothing to do with me. I would advocate for anybody who is interested to do so.