Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis allocates $160m more to improve care of children

ALMOST $160 million extra is needed to house children who are taken into state care because authorities cannot recruit enough foster carers.

Almost $160 million extra is needed to house children who are taken into state care because South Australian authorities cannot recruit enough foster carers.

ALMOST $160 million extra is needed to house children who are taken into state care because authorities cannot recruit enough foster carers.

Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis has allocated another $159.1 million to the Child Protection Department in the mid-year Budget review, which he says will largely be spent on the cost of housing and supervising children who must be removed from unsafe families.

The money is in addition to the more than $500 million already committed by the State Government to respond to 260 recommendations made by former judge Margaret Nyland as a result of her royal commission into the state’s child protection system/.

Mr Koutsantonis said the Government was doing everything it could to recruit more foster carers but the process takes time.

Children who cannot live with relatives or foster families must be accommodated in state-run homes or apartments rented by the Government - known as commercial care - under the supervision of paid carers working alternating shifts.

Child Protection Department acting chief executive Fiona Ward would not specify what the extra funding would be spent on but said it would “ensure children who are not able to live with their parents have the best opportunities to lead successful lives”.

Despite the Treasurer highlighting a shortage of foster carers, Ms Ward said the department was “moving an increasing number of children out of commercial care and into other placement types”.

Opposition child protection spokeswoman Rachel Sanderson said the Government was struggling to recruit more foster carers because it did not give them “the respect and support they deserve”.

“The Weatherill Government has failed our most vulnerable children and everybody is paying the price,” she said.

“Commercial care is both the worst form of care for vulnerable children and the most expensive.”

For more information about becoming a foster carer phone 1300 2 FOSTER.