Our most vulnerable children and young people need safe and appropriate care and supports in order to heal from significant trauma and lead healthy, productive lives.
Foster and kinship carers provide a crucial role in children’s lives and in our communities, but our system is at breaking point due to short-term thinking and a chronic lack of investment.
The Greens have a plan to get it back on track:
- Extend the age for leaving care from 18 to 21 years of age – providing young people with a place to call home – and make provisions for the extension of care in law.
- Increase carer allowances to bring these into line with other states, increasing the rate by $3500-5500 per annum, depending on the age of the child and complexity of care.
- Scale up the highly successful TrACK (Treatment and Care for Kids) program to provide 100 children in residential care or at risk of placement breakdown with experienced foster carers who are skilled, resourced and supported in the provision of therapeutic care.
- Streamline and simplify the expenses and reimbursement system to make it easier for carers to access, reducing out-of-pocket costs to carers and ensuring that children and young people’s needs are better met.