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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-08-30 Daily Xml
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Foster and Kinship Carer Week

Ms SAVVAS (Newland) (12:48): I move:

That this house—

(a) recognises Foster and Kinship Carer Week;

(b) acknowledges that everyone has a role to play in child protection;

(c) appreciates the invaluable contribution of foster and kinship carers who open their hearts, homes and lives to children and young people and make a difference in their lives;

(d) recognises the enormous impact foster or kinship carers can have in improving outcomes for children and young people who have faced significant challenges;

(e) encourages those South Australians who can to explore foster caring and the many rewards it brings; and

(f) acknowledges the government's ongoing commitment to listening to carers and their investment in carer advocacy in the 2022-23 budget.

I would like to speak to this motion and, of course, the importance of foster and kinship carers, not only in our community but in my own life because I think it is important to talk about the fact that foster and kinship carers and also children in the guardianship of the minister are real people in so many of our lives and acknowledge the struggles that those children face and the role that foster and kinship carers play in giving loving and protective homes to children who are most vulnerable.

Foster and Kinship Carer Week is between 10 September and 16 September this year. It is an annual event that is dedicated to acknowledging the wonderful people who have chosen to become foster and kinship carers. In my family growing up we were a kinship family, and I know all too well the strength that it does take to take on children in care, despite there often being challenges with doing so. I would like to acknowledge all those who make a decision—and it is a very conscious decision—to open their hearts to vulnerable children. It is something that takes so much heart, and I know that kids across our state are so much better for the role that foster and kinship carers play in their lives.

As a kinship sibling—someone who grew up with cousins who were raised in our care—I know what an incredible humbling and warming experience it is to have those extra lives in your home and be able to play a role in their upbringing as a kinship sibling and also in providing a safe and happy home for children who might not otherwise have it.

There are so many important kinship and foster carers in my own life, people who open up their homes, their hearts and their lives to children who need it. I am incredibly thankful for the role that they play, the invaluable role that so many of them play, and so many people in my own life play, particularly for children in my life who have been impacted by the child protection system.

Our government is very much committed to supporting carers, and we acknowledge the important contribution that all South Australian carers make by providing vulnerable children and young people a safe place to call home. We also acknowledge that child protection is very much everyone's responsibility and that all of us have a role to play in the child protection and family support system.

Since returning to government, we have shown this commitment in a variety of ways, but one of the ways that our minister and our team have done that is by continuing to listen to the voices of carers. Earlier this year, I attended a carer forum in my electorate, with the minister and the then Chief Executive of Child Protection, where we heard from a large number of carers who are experiencing different issues and complex concerns within the child protection system.

I know that most of the people in this place would also experience that, not just in the formalised setting of carer forums but with constituents who come into their office and raise concerns about either having children removed from them or being carers themselves. I think that having that discussion with a large group of carers was really important. It gave us the opportunity to hear from them directly, ask a large number of questions and, of course, meet some of the wonderful children in the care of carers in the north-eastern suburbs.

We also attended this wonderful gathering at a constituent's home after that forum. It was one of the first of what they call Mockingbird constellations, which is a home that a carer opens up. A carer will have a variety of other carers in their local area come into their home. They will open up their home for support, they will open up their home for the children in their care to meet other children in care and they will sort of exist as a home base or a community outreach within a home setting for local carers and their children.

We attended one of those at a constituent's home in Hope Valley, and I was so incredibly impressed not just with the carers themselves and all the kids who came along but with the supports that were being offered there. We engaged in art activities, we engaged in music activities, we had food and drink together, we met the children and we also saw a developing family relationship between the children in care in local suburbs. I was really impressed with that set-up. I would like to thank all those people who are opening up their own homes to not just children in their own care but children in care nearby. I think that is just such an important system, and one that I know we would have benefited from when we were kinship carers when I was growing up.

Our government has also announced the establishment of the Carer Council, which will provide advice and report directly to the Minister for Child Protection. This will be made up of paid carers who have had direct experience with the child protection and family support system. It will inform the further design of policy, practice and future legislative reform. We are also moving forward with recommendations from Dr Fiona Arney. At one of our carer forums that I mentioned before, we heard directly about the response from carers to that report from Dr Arney.

We immediately began work on prioritising the removal of the 'deficit in care' ground in regard to care concerns. We are immediately prioritising improvements to the model of respite support, which is something that I know is consistently raised with a large number of members here in this place. In conjunction with that, we are looking at flexibility in how respite looks and how we can work with our partner agencies to ensure that respite is flexible and available.

In that, I would also like to acknowledge the role of respite carers. I have also had a large number of people in my life who opened their homes for respite, whether it be on weekends or in school holidays. I know that is such an important service that really assists particularly those who have multiple children in their care long term to have an ability to have that respite, and I also know how exciting it is for the kids to have a bit of a change in scenery and perhaps activities alongside that respite as well.

We are also establishing the Carer Council, as mentioned before, and referred any recommendations for legislative change to the review that was being undertaken into the Children and Young People (Safety) Act. That review commenced in September and allowed an opportunity for community to provide feedback on the act and improvements that they feel can be made. So far, I think there have been over 900 people engaging with that review, which shows a keen interest of people to have their say but also the diversity of responses that we will receive when making those recommendations.

The review was tabled in parliament this year, and the government is working through the review with the intention to release a draft bill for consultation to the community. I do think that it will be a really important time for those who are interested to give feedback once that draft bill is released. I will certainly be encouraging those carers known to me to make submissions of their own.

We also know, of course, that the cost of living is putting pressure on everyone but particularly on carers, who are often using their own money, going above and beyond to provide the extra supports that children in their care receive. That is why in the recent budget the government increased carer payments by 4.8 per cent. That was an additional $50 per fortnight for each child under 16 in their care.

Our government in the 2022-23 budget also committed an additional $800,000 over the next four years for a stronger carer voice, which is essential to the responsive and supportive nature of the child protection system. We are also funding an extra $800,000 for Grandcarers SA, knowing that grandparents play a particularly important role in kinship care and are often the ones who end up taking on care responsibilities when there has been a breakdown at home. It will also assist that advocacy body to support grandparents specifically, particularly those performing that primary role for their children.

I am very happy to be supporting this motion today. As I mentioned, it does have a real personal connection for me, knowing the role that kinship carers play but also loving kids who have been in the child protection system and knowing just how important those home environments are, so I am very happy to be supporting this motion today.

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (12:58): In supporting those paragraphs that comprise the motion moved by the member for Newland, I move the addition of a paragraph (g), which provides as follows:

(g) urges the Malinauskas Labor government to support its vital commitment to vulnerable South Australian children by appointing a dedicated Minister for Child Protection.

That is a step that is within the government's control and is something that the opposition not only has been calling for now for the entire course of this parliament but certainly walked the walk in the last parliament. Having a dedicated Minister for Child Protection brings the necessary focus on the task by that dedicated minister.

It is well that a government member moved this motion in the parliament because it is now important to see, of course, that the government and the minister responsible make good on those sentiments expressed in the motion. We have seen as recently as the budget estimates process the government making much of the 4.8 per cent increase, and of course that is the standard for a service provider. We need to do more than provide in terms of a service provider. We need to give standing and robust capacity for carers to be recognised for the important work that they do. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13:00 to 14:00.

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