SA foster parents asked to take on guardianship roles for their foster children

MORE than 700 foster parents will be asked to consider taking greater responsibility for their foster children in a move by Families SA to provide more stable homes to young people in state care.

MORE than 700 foster parents will be asked to consider taking greater responsibility for their foster children in a move by Families SA to provide more stable homes to young people in state care.

The child protection agency will write to 788 families who have been caring for a foster child for two years or more.

They will be encouraged to consider taking guardianship of the child, giving them more control over everyday decisions and removing the need for a Families SA case worker to closely monitor the family.

The state continues to provide financial support and the child can still have contact with their birth parents.

The Government has allocated $475,000 a year in the State Budget and established a central coordination unit to increase the number of guardianship families.

Child Development Minister Susan Close told The Advertiser she wanted to raise awareness of the option among those taking long-term care of children.

“That’s really about saying to the children that you have a chance at stability and that foster parents really are in the role of parent,” Dr Close said.

“(Under guardianship) many more of the day-to-day decisions that are taken for granted in biological relationships are entrusted to foster parents and the children in their care.”

Guardianship offers parents more legal rights than fostering but fewer than adoption.

It also aims to stop children being shunted from one foster home to another.

Productivity Commission data shows almost half of young people leaving state care — usually to return to their parents or because they turn 18 — have lived in three or more placements.

Experts warn this puts them at greater risk of homelessness, unemployment, disruptions to schooling or ill health.

Guardianship has been possible since 1993 but until a few years ago, there were only three or four cases a year.

There are now about 120 children living under the arrangement and about 50 families going through the application process, which must be approved by the Youth Court.

The State Government has also commissioned a review of the Adoption Act, which has had few updates since 1988.

Dr Close said adoption “can and will play a role” in a revamped child protection system but “probably a fairly small one”.

“What we really need to happen is to have more foster families and along with that greater stability for the kids who are being fostered,” she said.

A parliamentary committee examining South Australia’s child protection system recently urged the Government to do more to improve the relationship between Families SA and foster carers, warning otherwise it would continue to find it difficult to recruit long-term carers.