Professional foster carers may look after our vulnerable children

PROFESSIONAL foster carers may be paid to look after some of the state’s most ­vulnerable and troubled ­youngsters.

Commissioner for Children and Young People Liana Buchanan at her home. Picture: Rebecca Michael

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PROFESSIONAL foster carers could be paid to look after some of the state’s most ­vulnerable and troubled ­youngsters.

The notion of professional foster carers — with expertise in child development, counselling and trauma — taking charge of children with more intensive needs is one option under investigation as part of the government’s Roadmap to Reform of the child welfare system.

The new Commissioner for Children and Young People, Liana Buchanan, said professional foster carers would be welcomed alongside increased support and training for existing and new ­foster carers.

The foster care system is in crisis with too few carers to support the hundreds of children needing out-of-home care, many of whom have complex needs.

Commissioner for Children and Young People Liana Buchanan in her Melbourne office. Picture: Mark Stewart

As a last resort, many are put in to the residential care system, which Ms Buchanan said was a last resort that was being slowly wound back because of the dangers to the children in its care.

“The previous commissioner Bernie Geary did incredible work to expose how poor the level of care is for kids in residential care … not only the extent to which kids in residential care are exposed to sexual abuse and exploitation but the whole raft of other really concerning problems with quality of residential care.”

Since his report last year, the government has moved about 200 children out of residential care using targeted care packages, essentially a pocket of money available to a particular child to provide the intensive needs, services, counselling and support to enable them to move into foster care or kinship care with family members.

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“It’s a really positive shift but we still have about 420-450 kids in residential care ... and I’m still very concerned about the level of care we provide,” Ms Buchanan said.

Since becoming the advocate for Victoria’s vulnerable children, Ms Buchanan has been at times shocked at what she has learned.

“I spoke to a young man in his early 20s who had been in care aged four to 18 and had 87 placements in that time. Stories like that just remind me how much work we have to do to improve the whole out-of-home care system.

“We’ve got to try and do everything we can to make sure these kids get stability and safety as early as possible. If children don’t have a sense of stability and attachment and safety in their first years, from newborn to age three, then that, in itself, can have long-term impacts.

“I would like to see us setting kids up to thrive because of the support they get from out-of-home care rather than despite it.”

Many vulnerable young children are put in to the residential care system as a last resort. Picture: Getty Images

Attracting and training more foster carers is also key to moving more youngsters in to better care.

Ms Buchanan believed few people outside the system understood how many children needed care and support, and how dire was the need for foster carers.

Some potential carers are scared off by the thought of dealing with challenging behaviours, but Ms Buchanan said she believed that could be overcome with better training and support. “It’s important that foster carers are given professional support and information on how to work with these children.”

She said more work was also needed to assess whether current payments were adequate to cover the cost of caring for children.

Read more about Liana Buchanan and her role as Commissioner for Children and Young People in Saturday’s Weekend liftout

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