Foster care challenges

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Modern Australian family presents host of challenges

Barry Leniham, Transition Team, Capacity Building Manager, Aboriginal Child, Family and Community Care State Secretariat (AbSec), Pru Goward, Minister for Family and Community Service, Angela Webb, CEO, AbSec and Garry Matthews, CEO, Coffs Harbour Aboriginal Family Community Care Centre. Image supplied

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trend paper released recently has outlined how dramatic changes to the traditional Australian family have prompted the New South Wales foster care sector to explore new avenues to fill an urgent need for 900 new foster carers over the next two years.

The paper, commissioned by the Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies (ACWA) as part of its recently-launched Fostering NSW campaign, drew on expert opinion to explore the new face of fostering and how it will change in the next 10 years.

The report identified that factors including families having less children and teenagers leaving

the nest later in life have placed traditional methods of out-of-home care under threat, prompting a quiet revolution in NSW foster care.

Insights from the study reveal the challenges to Australian families taking up fostering include demographic trends such as: one in five Australians grow up with a single parent, and the number of couples starting families at an older age is increasing sixfold. The trend for children to leave home later is further exacerbating the decline in the number of families taking on foster-children.

The paper highlights the need for the foster care sector to adapt to today’s society and encourage non-traditional carers to consider

fostering. In light of these trends, Fostering NSW is actively engaging new potential carers including same-sex couples, of which Australia has seen a 32 per cent increase in the five years from 2006 to 2011 (Census data).

Singles, and empty nesters are also being targeted, in addition to couples and adults from the caring professions.

According to Associate Professor Judith Cashmore, from University of Sydney, more flexible fostering arrangements are important both for foster children and for foster parents. “There is increasing recognition of the need to provide support to families who are struggling Page 1

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to raise children, as well as the children themselves – sometimes an early intervention with a shortterm foster period, rather than a long-term foster arrangement, may be the ideal response for a child.

This works well with today’s busy lifestyles. More creative, flexible fostering arrangements can be a win/win for both children and potential foster carers alike,” said Ms Cashmore.

The NSW out-of-home care sector provides several different types of fostering, including respite (short-break), where a child’s usual foster parents are given a break by another foster parent.

A commitment to foster care does not necessarily mean a 24/7 commitment, there are many ways to foster and to make fostering fit with today’s busy lifestyles.

In 2011, new administrative arrangements handed responsibility for a recruitment campaign for foster carers to the NGO sector, which is now demonstrating agility in developing a foster carer campaign to fit the demands of the 21st Century.

Stressing the importance of changing the face of foster care in response to new family dynamics

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and lifestyles, Andrew McCallum, CEO of ACWA, said “Australian society is rapidly evolving, and foster care with it. The trend paper reinforces our need to actively reach out to a diverse range of carers including single Australians and same-sex couples and across cultures. It means keeping foster care relevant to Australian society and different lifestyles, and, most importantly, relevant to the needs of the children it exists to help. ” The Trend Paper aims to promote foster care as a vital activity that has a positive impact on some of society’s most vulnerable children.

Alarmingly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children constitute nearly 33 per cent of all children placed in out-of-home care, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Under the ‘Aboriginal Placement Principle’, many of these children placed with relatives. However, due to changes in communities and families, this has resulted in an acute shortage of Aboriginal carers. Fostering NSW reinforces the work being done on the ground

by Aboriginal agencies to recruit Aboriginal carers for Aboriginal children, who can’t live with their

extended family.

Angela Webb, the CEO of AbSec (Aboriginal Child, Family and Community Care State Secretariat of NSW), a dedicated peak body for Aboriginal agencies providing foster care, commented on the shift to placing Aboriginal children with Aboriginal run agencies and carers: “The emphasis on Aboriginal agencies providing care for Aboriginal children is critical in resolving the mistrust of state care of children that lingers following the experiences of the Stolen Generation. Aboriginal carers are more likely to be persuaded to sign up to an Aboriginal foster care agency than a government body, said Ms Webb.

Despite the changes to Australian families and society, the underlying characteristics of a great foster carer remain unchanged. If you have a sense of love, parenting skills, stability and strong values, fostering a child in need is one of the most rewarding life experiences a family can embark on.

To learn more about foster care, visit www.fosteringnsw.com.au or call 1800 2 FOSTER. For more details on the Trend Paper visit www.acwa.asn.au.