CareSouth celebrates Dynamic Foster Carers in Foster Care Week This week Australians observe foster care week, an annual event celebrating foster carers in the local community and acknowledging the need for more carers.
One such celebrated couple is local south Canberra residents Rebecca and Tom. After moving from Queensland to Canberra last September, the couple contacted CareSouth’s Queanbeyan office about possible foster care opportunities after seeing an advertisement in the newspaper. Just six months later, the couple started caring for 10 year-old Ashley*, in addition to their own eight and twelve year old sons.
“We’d thought about doing it for so long,” said Rebecca, who recently moved with her family from Queensland to Canberra last September. “At first we were looking to adopt but with the long waiting period, we decided to go to CareSouth right away to enquire about their foster care program.”
Never has there been a better time in Australia for foster carers to commit like Rebecca and Tom. A 2008-2009 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) research report Child Protection Australia shows the need for out-of-home care services for children has grown by 44% — more than 34,000 children — in the past five years. Across Australia, the report finds that 47%, or nearly 16,000 children, are in foster care.
Specifically to the ACT, AIHW reports that from 2005 to 2009, the number of children ages 0-17 years in out-of-home care increased from 342 to 494, or 44%. Although there is a need for more carers, a recent April 2010 survey Launch Fostering NSW finds that 78% of the NSW community has never considered foster care.
“Great foster carers can turn a child’s life around and provide a safe, nurturing and stable home life and the experience of being part of a supportive family,” said Catherine Thurston, Manager of CareSouth’s Foster Care program for the Queanbeyan region. “At this time, we need even more loving foster carers like Rebecca and Tom in the Queanbeyan and surrounding areas.”
“There has definitely been adjustments to our family dynamics over the past six months, but the positives outweigh everything,” said Rebecca, who admits it took some time to establish a regular routine with a new family member. “Now that we have another girl in our family other than myself, we’ve added variety to our activities. Ashley loves to ride horses…much different than the boys.”
“We have a sharing, positive relationship with Ashley. We love to introduce Ashley to our family traditions, and Ashley exposes us to her own traditions as well,” said Rebecca. “My husband and I agree that if we had to make the decision again, we’d do it…no questions.”
Foster carers like Rebecca and Tom become substitute families for children and young people up to 18 years who are unable to live with their immediate families often due to child abuse and neglect. To become a foster carer through CareSouth, prospective carers are provided with a thorough assessment and training process as well as an extensive support network that features 24-hour on-call phone support.
All CareSouth carers are paid a generous tax-free fortnightly allowance to care for children in their care. CareSouth is open to placements with either single people or a couple in rural or suburban settings. CareSouth is a community non-profit organisation, providing support to families, children, young people, adolescents and people with disabilities. CareSouth has been providing foster care, disability and residential services in the Shoalhaven since 1994 and the Illawarra since 2003.
CareSouth’s services are provided throughout the Queanbeyan area and southern NSW and include: A foster care program providing short and long term care, and respite care for children and young people; the Aunties and Uncles program, supporting families experiencing difficulties and isolation; and hostels and residential programs for young people and young adults with disabilities.
CareSouth is joining with foster care agencies, in Foster Care Week, to call for responsibility for all children in care to be shifted from Community Services (CS) to the high quality services of non-government organisations with appropriate resourcing. Shifting responsibility for children in care to the non government sector was a key recommendation of Justice Wood’s 2008 Inquiry into Child Protection Services in NSW.
CareSouth is a member of the Coalition for Children in Care (CCC), an alliance of 27 non-government foster care and residential care providers, formed • in response to the NSW Government’s emphasis on cost of care, rather than quality of care, and • to ensure that Justice Wood’s recommendations on out-of-home care are implemented.
*Ashley is not her real name
For more information about becoming a foster carer through CareSouth’s Queanbeyan office, please contact Catherine at 02 6299 1305.
For more information about CareSouth’s foster care services, please visit http://www.caresouth.org.au/our-services/foster-care/.
