FOSTER CARE

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:00): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister representing the Minister for Families and Communities a question regarding South Australia's foster care numbers.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: From my reading of the annual reports, I note that in the last five years the number of children in foster care in South Australia has more than doubled from 967 to over 2,016. The proportion of children in family or kinship care placements has also risen but at a slower pace, from some 27 per cent to 39 per cent. The South Australian figures for children in family or kinship care are much lower than many interstate figures. For example, at last count New South Wales had 47 per cent of foster children in a family placement.

My office has received a number of calls from upset constituents who were refused the care of grandchildren and the children of other close relatives. These grandparents and other close relatives appear to me as though they would be terrific foster carers, often in a situation where the child's parents have a drug addiction or some other condition but still have a possibility of rehabilitation. However, it appears that strangers are quite regularly preferred in placements over family members. I also place on record the advocacy of Denise and John Langton of Grandparents for Grandchildren Inc., and I note the Family First bill before parliament in this regard.

Finally, another figure that stood out when I was looking through these numbers was that there were only four adoptions out of foster care in South Australia last year; just four. My questions to the minister are:

1. Why has the number of children in foster care doubled in the last five years?

2. Why are more grandparents and immediate family not being considered as foster carers?

3. Why are so few adoptions out of foster care occurring, and has any thought been given to the option of permanent foster care—as is being trialled in some other jurisdictions—to give children permanency and a sense of security in an important family dynamic?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (15:01): I thank the honourable member for his most important questions and will refer them to the Minister for Families and Communities in another place and bring back a response.