Rule change will allow Queensland foster carers to immunise children without seeking permission

BARRIERS stopping foster children getting their full vaccinations will be toppled as part of a back-to-school push to address the health and education of the state’s most vulnerable.

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BARRIERS stopping foster children getting their full vaccinations will be toppled as part of a back-to-school push to address the health and education of the state’s most vulnerable.

Changes will be made to allow foster parents to take children in their care to the doctor now for shots, having been previously required to seek permission before protecting their charges from preventable disease.

Child Safety Minister Shannon Fentiman said she’d acted after complaints from foster carers and their peak body, Foster Care Queensland, that getting permission from the department could be difficult.

“That is why we are making this change, so it’s easier and faster for foster carers to ensure children in care remain up to date with vaccinations,” she said.

Changes will be made to allow foster parents to take children in their care to the doctor for shots.

It follows a nationwide drive by governments to arrest falling immunisation rates across the country that were allowing the re-emergence of diseases.

Measures include withholding family payments and blocking children from childcare centres if they are not up to date with shots. The health push comes as the State Government also pays $500,000 to put more than 400 foster children into kindergarten by covering out-of-pocket costs for foster and kinship carers.

It’s also funding $1.5 million to get more indigenous children, aged one to four, in early childhood education and $1 million for eight student protection officers to work in schools with children who have undergone trauma.

Ms Fentiman said studies showed children who went to kindergarten did better at school, were healthier, and even had better employment outcomes.

And the dedicated protection officers had already supported many students to improve their grades as they kept vulnerable students engaged in learning, she said.

Education Minister Kate Jones said the Government recognised children in care needed extra support.

More than 7000 children in out-of-home care will attend school this year, including almost 500 beginning prep and more than 400 at kindy.