What would the proposed Out of Home Care Strategy 2015-2020 mean for carers?

What is the Out of Home Care Strategy?

Out of home care services in the ACT and around Australia are currently facing many challenges including how to respond to rising demand for out of home care places and difficulties in attracting and retaining foster carers given the changing demographics and lifestyles of Australians.

Over the course of 2013, the Community Services Directorate has been conducting research and talking with stakeholders and staff about future directions for the ACT’s out of home care services. An Issues Paper was released for consultation in August 2013 and a Discussion Paper in November 2013 and written submissions received from a range of organizations and individuals. Many people also participated in consultation forums or other events such as a co-design project. We are now entering a final stage of consultation prior to preparing the Out of Home Care Strategy 2015-20 for government consideration.

A range of consultation sessions have been organized for stakeholders and staff over the course of May 2014. Written submissions are also welcome and feedback needs to be provided by 2 June 2014. Feedback should be provided through the following channels:

Sarah Kirk, Project Officer, Out of Home Care Strategy

Email:

Post: Sarah Kirk

Care and Protection Services

Community Services Directorate

GPO Box 158

Canberra ACT 2601.

You can also email Sarah with any other enquiries about the Strategy or consultation process.

What changes are proposed under the Out of Home Care Strategy 2015-2020 that will affect carers?

  • Greater recognition of their key role in the Care Team reflected in training and procedures.
  • Parental Responsibility to transfer to out of home care agencies once a child is on long term orders, reducing delays in decision making and potential for conflicts of opinion between carers, Care and Protection Services and the foster care agency.
  • Speedier access to permanency where the care plan is for a child to remain with them long term.
  • Comprehensive therapeutic assessments of every child and young person as they enter care and at regular intervals and a therapeutic plan to address the identified needs of the child.
  • Better information about children carers are asked to take, including health information.
  • Continuing access to carer subsidy where assessed as appropriate for care leavers aged 18-21 and continuing access to therapeutic supports.
  • Access to training on trauma-informed care.
  • Improved access to specialist advice and services such as the Trauma Recovery Service and Parent Child Interactive Therapy services.
  • An independent carer advocacy and support service.
  • Career opportunities for some carers in the new paraprofessional roles that will be created in placement prevention and reunification services (working with children and birth parents) and as professional foster carers.
  • Improved compliance in relation to ensuring there is a current therapeutic (formerly care) plan signed by all relevant parties, annual review reports, up to date child health information and the like, as non government providers will be incentivised to meet performance targets.

For kinship carers the Strategy will mean:

  • Care and Protection Services will still find and assess the initial placement and hold case responsibility for the child or young person when he/she is on initial or short term Orders until their future is resolved. Care and Protection Services will work with the child and their birth family and carersto arrive at a final decision about the child’s future.
  • Once a decision has been made about a child’s future, support for kinship placements will be provided for children and young people by outsourcing long term case management to out of home care agencies. This means once the child or young person is on a long term order the case management for the family will be given to a non government provider.
  • All children and young people will be assessed according to their needs and resources will be provided as needed.
  • The new comprehensive assessment of children and young people and therapeutic planning will ensure children and young people in kinship care receive the services they need.
  • Carers will have better access to training and support.

Are there any other issues carers should be aware of in the proposed Strategy?

All carers will be required to have their authority to care renewed every three years to ensure that children and young people are cared for by people and in circumstances that continue to meet the suitability requirements for carers.

Renewals will be tied to renewals of the Working With Vulnerable People Checks to minimise inconvenience. The renewal process should not prove onerous if out of home agencies have been doing their job well and staying in touch with carers and their circumstances.

Will carers still receive the same subsidies?

The proposed Strategy provides for all carers to receive a standard subsidy based on age. Level 1 and 2 and Intensive subsidies are proposed to be discontinued for all new placements.

The subsidy is intended to meet daily living costs for a child or young person. Many daily living expenses remain the same regardless of the child’s complexity of need - things such as food,movie tickets and haircuts.

The proposed changes maximise flexibility in responding to the needs of children and young people. Additional costs for a child will be met through the therapeutic plan and there will be greater flexibility in purchasing supports. For example, in theory all carers have a current entitlement of up to 36 days respite. Many carers do not have any regular access to respite and not all carers want respite. They may prefer to keep the child with them. Some carers have told us that they would prefer support in the form of cleaning or gardening assistance rather than respite. We have listened to what carers have said.

This proposal has been advanced in the interests of fairness and equity for all carers. Research undertaken for the Strategy suggests that there is significant variation in the levels of need of children whose carers are receiving higher subsidies.

Providing additional support through the therapeutic plan also enables support to be stepped up or stepped down as a child’s needs change over time.

It is important that the Community Services Directorate act in good faith where carers are in receipt of higher subsidy levels for existing placements. CSD will explore options to grandfather existing placements at existing subsidy levels. The clear intention is that new placements will be funded under the new arrangements.

In summary, carers in the ACT already enjoy the highest subsidies in Australia. The proposed approach ensures the fairest and best use of resources across the whole cohort of children and young people in care.

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