E&OE TRANSCRIPT RADIO INTERVIEW
ABC SYDNEY
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13 2024
SUBJECT: FOSTER CARE
SARAH MACDONALD: I cannot count the number of times I have talked about foster care on mornings and the broad agreement on the importance of the role of foster carers. We need more of them and they do extraordinary work. Well today in federal Parliament, an initiative is being launched to try and put foster care policy higher on the agenda. It's called Parliamentary Friends of Foster Carers and Children in Foster Care, and Susan Templeman, Labor MP for Macquarie and the Blue Mountains is the Co-convener with you now. Good morning.
SUSAN TEMPLEMAN, MP: Hello, Sarah.
MACDONALD: Hello. How's your interest in this been?
TEMPLEMAN: Well, I'm just a mum who thinks that every kid should have the opportunity to grow up in a safe, caring and healthy family situation. And unfortunately, that's not the case for a lot of children who are unable to live in their own homes. And foster caring, as you have well noted, is an area where it's hard to find families and there are big issues and things that you'd normally leave to the states, but a group of us in federal parliament have said it's really time for us at a federal level to look at what the common issues are and think about how we can play a positive role.
MACDONALD: Yes, we've talked to the minister in a state basis before about kids in hotels for long periods of time. So desperate are we needing foster carers. What can the federal committee do in terms of this?
TEMPLEMAN: So the Parliamentary friends group of foster carers and children in foster care is a group of MPs from across the parliament brought together to discuss what the issues are. So today what we're launching in about 25 minutes is this group and the first event is to talk about some practical things that can be done, for instance, and by the way, this has been put together by Families Australia and the National Foster Care Sustainability Group, so they've come up with three ideas.
One is how to improve access to medical and therapeutic support for the kids in foster care because we know that's a real challenge and strain on foster families. The second one is how, which flows on from that really, is how, what else can we do to reduce financial pressures on carers at a federal level? And they have some tax ideas on that. And the third is how can we look at the entitlements for leave from work that are not extended to foster carers currently, and is there a way to expand their access to family and caring leave that other families have?
MACDONALD: OK, so they don't get the same leave.
TEMPLEMAN: No. So there's a completely different set of rules for foster parents, and you know it isn't as simple as just saying oh you can have the same. It's about thinking what the needs are, and how, what is a practical way to do that? And so there's quite a complex proposal, but it's things like including foster care leave in the National Employment Standards, and working out what a criteria would be for leave entitlements.
And there is always a cost to it. And so what's terrific about what is being put forward today that we will all be discussing, is that there's an analysis by families Australia of the costs involved, and in the economic benefit. And that's the sort of data that's really useful to us as Members of Parliament to have, for us to be able to get these conversations moving in our own parties and across the Parliament.
MACDONALD: Susan Templeman is with us, the Labor MP for Macquarie in the Blue Mountains, and the Co-convener of a new group in federal parliament. And there'll be 3 co- chairs, one Labor, one liberal, one independent. So it is across the board, the Parliamentary Friends of Foster Carers and Children in Foster Care. You mentioned the money. I mean, people don't do this for money, it costs them to some degree. But do they need to be paid more?
TEMPLEMAN: Well, the payments are really up to the States
MACDONALD: I know, but you're -
TEMPLEMAN: There, there's no suggestion that somehow we will, you know, jump in and take over. But what this one proposal that's been put forward is that there be a change to the tax-free allowance for carers.
So that that would allow them to, it would allow the providers to offer carers a higher career allowance without that carer then facing a tax burden. So you know, the way what happens at a state level intersects with the tax system. So again not necessarily quick fixes, but something to be worked through and looked at and to talk to the states about would this make a difference in their eyes. And I think this is the issue. There are lots of problems that we go, very clearly that's a state issue. Lots of things that are very clearly a federal issue. But the issues like this require us to do creative thinking at a federal level, engage with the States, and New South Wales is doing a lot of work. I know they've just recently opened up new residential options for young people.
But what can we do to help with the number of foster carers? Because the number of kids going into foster care has actually dropped 16% since 2017. And while residential care has increased something like 72%, going into a family environment in foster care has gone down and.
MACDONALD: Because we can't find foster parents.
TEMPLEMAN: That's right. So we really do need to be creative and it's not a matter of an advertising campaign and, you know, publicising the extraordinary rewards that families share when they've been foster carers, it's about being practical. How do we make this economically and socially a more practical and achievable thing for families to do?
MACDONALD: Yeah, well, someone's texting me saying. I've been doing it 17 years. I wouldn't recommend it. Funding and support is needed, funding and support.
TEMPLEMAN: Yeah. I think one of the key things, the first ask on the list in fact is around extra support to access medical and therapeutic support for kids, so that those kids are getting what they need and the foster families in that way are being really well supported by professionals in, in the well-being of those young people.
MACDONALD: Yeah. Well, because you often have kids with complex issues and Di’s saying you know that emotional and practical support with kids with high complex needs is really important. So, it's not about money, it's just about the support around that too.
TEMPLEMAN: Well, in one of the suggestions is that they, each eligible child in an out of home care gets a specific healthcare card, a bit like a veteran's health card, which allows them to access the range of medical and therapeutic services that they at no or very low cost. And you know there is a cost to that, to the health system, but then the economic benefits of supporting young people and allowing them to really thrive and flourish in their new environments, you know, pays off and what I'm really delighted and what I'm looking forward to hearing more about is that economic data. Because that is what allows you to really carry an argument. Because we all want to do it, and we all know it will be better. But, how can we demonstrate it and make it a priority? So that's what our group will be doing. And there are many Sydney MP's like Sally Sitou, Jenny Ware, a whole bunch of us will be part of this important event today.
MACDONALD: I love seeing things that go across the political spectrum too, and people getting together with friends in the title. Thanks for your time this morning.
TEMPLEMAN:
Thanks, Sarah.
