Foster and Kinship Care

The Hon. C. BONAROS (15:27): Today, I wish to speak about the opportunity costs for foster and kinship carers who take on the selfless job of providing a home to children in need. Specifically, I wish to speak about the financial opportunity cost when it comes to superannuation. In her November 2022 report of the Independent Inquiry into Foster and Kinship Care, Dr Arney recommended:

That a scheme is created to enable carers to have superannuation contributions made by the South Australian government while they provide care for children and young people.

As the report also noted:

Governments save considerable costs by relying on the voluntary services of foster and kinship carers.

However the context for providing foster and kinship care has changed dramatically since the traditional model of voluntary foster care was created.

While most carers are still female, women's labour force participation has significantly increased with many carers in paid employment before taking on the caring role.

Many carers are single or unpartnered, and many carers already experience financial stress due to high costs of living and low housing affordability even before taking on the caring role.

We know the number of foster placements has decreased in the last two years. We also know a higher proportion of children under the guardianship of the chief executive are in residential care placements than ever before—14.4 per cent at last count. For the last 10 years, the government has spent more than $8 on residential care for every $1 on home-based care.

Last financial year, it cost a whopping $562,000-odd for a child to be placed in residential care for a year, compared with $63,000 for non-residential care. It makes absolutely no financial sense to be supporting current carers and encouraging new carers so that residential care is used as an absolute last resort. We know that over 75 per cent of the child protection budget is spent on residential care.

For caring to be more attractive and sustainable, the government has to be focusing on more than just the direct costs of care. A carer will typically change or alter their employment to fulfil their caring role. A carer will typically give up earning superannuation for their retirement, a huge sacrifice, to provide this incredible and selfless service. In their submission to the review, peak body Connecting Foster and Kinship Carers SA shared the following carer observations:

there is an unspoken expectation when Carers take on a child that they will either decrease or end employment to support their young person if it is required

many Carers do this willingly, but suffer financially

at times, and because the resources [provided] by the state are limited, Carers are forced to use their superannuation (or money they intended to contribute to superannuation) to fund services, activities and daily living needs for their young people

they have a strong desire to contribute towards their superannuation for example, they want to 'put money towards the future' rather than watch their money 'just go' whilst caring

they are aware their superannuation, and future financial security at retirement, is directly impacted

superannuation is not discussed with Carers at first point of caring or throughout the caring journey

it is challenging for rural Carers to find work that fits with the needs of their young person and school hours, therefore their superannuation is impacted

they often choose to take a lower paying position in order to fit in school drop offs and pickups and any 'unexpected pickups' that were required to best care for their young person, which in turn impacts the ability to generate superannuation

Work flexibility is also a critical issue for carers. The list of quotes from that association goes on and on. It is an issue that carers, more than anyone, are very familiar with. How much is this anticipated to cost? The cost of diverting 70 children and young people from residential care to home-based care would easily support an annual $5,000 voluntary superannuation payment by way of comparison to the figures I have just quoted. I look forward to discussions with the Minister for Child Protection on this in coming weeks and will be urging her once again to consider this issue from a gender equality perspective.