Bills

Statutes Amendment (Rights of Foster Parents, Guardians and Kinship Carers) Bill

Second Reading

The Hon. J.S. LEE (21:39): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I rise this evening to speak about the Statutes Amendment (Rights of Foster Parents, Guardians and Kinship Carers) Bill 2015. This bill was introduced by the hardworking member for Hammond, Mr Adrian Pederick, in the other place. I take this opportunity to congratulate and pay tribute to the member for Hammond for the compassion, tenacity and hard work he has shown to handle this important legislative change on behalf of his constituents and foster parents.

I am very pleased that this bill received well-deserved support from my Liberal colleagues, Labor ministers and government members, and was passed in the House of Assembly. The member for Hammond advocated for Monica Perrett in introducing the bill. Monica lives in the electorate of Hammond and was the winner of the Barnardos Mother of the Year Award for 2014.

Please allow me to provide some background. For over 12 years Monica has been the mother of six children and a carer for the aged and disabled. She is also an active donor to a variety of different charities, especially those working with children or those whose lives are less fortunate. Reading about her contributions and remarkable efforts, Monica is a guardian angel, a crusader for people who are unable to speak for themselves. I learned that Monica almost single-handedly brought down a nursing home for severe abuse of the elderly. She is just an amazing lady.

Behind Monica's prestigious award is a moving story of an incredibly caring, loving and nurturing human being, a mother not only for her own biological children but also those she has chosen to foster, including her granddaughter and little Finn, who has sadly passed away. Monica fostered her nephew, little baby Finn, in 2014. Monica cared for him as her own son. When little Finn was born he was diagnosed with numerous medical conditions, including spina bifida, fluid on the brain and a hole in the heart. Finn was born in February 2014 and entered Monica's care in March 2014.

His biological parents gave permission for Monica to become little Finn's carer until he turned 18 years old, under the guardianship of the minister. In April 2014 Monica Perrett won the Barnardos Mother of the Year Award in South Australia. In May 2014 she was to fly to Sydney for the national Mother of the Year Award. Monica kissed her little baby goodbye on that day, and she never thought that it was the last time she would see the baby alive. After her departure, she was faced with the heartbreaking news that little Finn had passed away 12 hours later, unexpectedly after an emergency admission into hospital.

The sorrow of a mother or foster parent losing a child that they love is unimaginable. To add to the unbearable pain and suffering, on 7 May Monica and the Perrett family found out they were not given the chance to say the final goodbye to their little baby. I have sat on many parliamentary committees, including the inquiry into foster carers and child protection.

I know full well, from foster parents I have come to know, the significant role of foster parents in a child's life. We have far too many children who have been taken away from their birth families for no fault of their own, and it is the cause of great pain to all of us. It is highly desirable that children who cannot be with their birth parents are able to grow up in a family setting, cared for by loving foster parents.

The current legislation states that only the biological parents are provided with the rights of the child, including details such as the cause of death and funeral arrangements. When dealing with Families SA, Monica was denied any information about the passing of her foster son, little Finn. The reason given by Families SA was simply the fact that she was not Finn's biological mother.

She was also advised that, although she was granted the right to be the foster parent of the little baby until the age of 18 years, she would not be involved in the funeral arrangements unless the biological parents, her brother and his partner, wanted her to be involved.

Initially, this was not the case, as the biological parents, who live in Queensland of no fixed address, denied this. Again, you can just imagine what Monica and her husband had to go through for the right to understand the cause of death, to make funeral arrangements and the right to say their final goodbye.

Currently, when a foster child passes away, all the rights the foster parents had with the child, all responsibilities and decision-making ability go back to the biological parents. This meant that Monica and her family were left in the dark with no say whatsoever. This rule applies irrespective of the child's age and the length of time the child has spent with the foster parent.

Monica has described this horrible ordeal as a 'living hell', battling Families SA rules under which biological parents regain first rights to a child who dies, leaving foster parents with no rights or access to information concerning the child who they loved and cared for. Departments such as Families SA are restricted in their ability to act in accordance with what they may perceive to be fair and reasonable in the circumstances.

Currently, legislation, including the Family and Community Services Act 1972, stipulates that there is no requirement for foster parents to be involved in the funeral process. The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1996, in its current form, does not provide foster parents with the opportunity to be acknowledged and involved in viewing the body or being acknowledged on the death certificate.

In June 2014, Monica started a petition to raise awareness of the issues surrounding her battle with the bureaucracy, once little Finn passed away. This petition accumulated support from approximately 38,000 signatures, backing the grieving mother, Monica Perrett. The petition called for the government to change unreasonable procedures when a child in foster care dies.

The Families SA chief executive contacted Monica, asking her to meet with the minister responsible. In that same month, Monica managed to secure a meeting with the former minister for education and child development, member for Wright, the Hon. Jennifer Rankine, and the Premier of South Australia, to review the changes she had campaigned for on behalf of all foster parents.

The requests included expediting the viewing of the child's body by foster parents and including an addendum to a death certificate to recognise the role of foster parents in the child's life. However, my understanding from the member for Hammond is that Monica has since heard nothing from the government.

The member for Hammond then approached the new Minister for Education and Child Development, the member for Port Adelaide, the Hon. Susan Close, to address the government's promises because the former minister, member for Wright, made a promise on ABC radio on 13 June that she would look into contacting the Births, Deaths and Marriages department to see if they could add a statutory declaration to each death certificate of a child who dies in foster care. The member for Hammond persistently then reminded the minister and the Premier of South Australia that the promise needs to be given to foster parents so that these children do not go unnoticed or forgotten.

The Perrett family fought this issue because they do not want anyone else to suffer like they have, but they were also pushed to action when they finally received Finn's death certificate and discovered that only his biological parents were listed, not them. Monica is not alone in this situation. There are many other foster parents who will be faced with the same heartbreaking situation in the future if the legislation is not amended by this parliament. There are approximately 1,800 foster parents who will gain new rights as a result of the campaign fought and won by Monica, a South Australian Mother of the Year. The amendments agreed to in the House of Assembly:

support the amendments prescribed in the Statutes Amendment (Rights of Foster Parents, Guardians and Kinship Carers) Bill;

commit to increasing the rights of foster families in the involvement of funeral planning, as well as acknowledging foster parents on the child's death certificate; and

affirm the rights of foster parents and legal guardians.

The amendment bill will seek to insert new section 38A into the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act. Section 38A(1) proposes to allow foster parents and legal guardians to give notice to the registrar of a person who has died. Subsections (2) and (3) of the proposed new section 38A give the opportunity for foster parents and legal guardians to give notice to the registrar as soon as reasonably practicable after the death of the deceased in writing in a form approved by the registrar and include the information required by the registrar.

Finally, the bill proposes to insert new section 47A into the Family and Community Services Act 1972 to give authority to the foster parents to be consulted about the child's funeral arrangements, unless the foster parent indicates that he or she does not wish to be consulted. As a matter of custom, foster parents have not been given rights equal to the rights of the child's parents to contribute to funeral arrangements because there will be circumstances where it may not be appropriate for the foster parents to be making such decisions; for example, where the child has been in the care of the foster parent for only a short time or the parents have maintained a close and caring relationship with the child.

I commend the member for Hammond for the work that he did in pushing this bill through. It has been passed through the House of Assembly. I certainly hope that the passage of the bill will be smooth in this house as well. I commend the bill to the chamber.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins.