FOSTER CHILDREN TO GET BETTER ACCESS TO ACTIVITIES
The Brumby Government will change practices around foster care to give children in foster care better access to everyday activities, Minister for Community Services Lisa Neville said.
(Media-Newswire.com) - The Brumby Government will change practices around foster care to give children in foster care better access to everyday activities, Minister for Community Services Lisa Neville said.
Ms Neville announced the clarifications at the opening of the 2007 National Foster Care Conference at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne today.
“We trust foster carers with the everyday care of children. They have undergone training and assessment, a police check and a Working With Children Check. We should trust them to make the right decision on a child staying overnight with friends whose parents they trust,” Ms Neville said.
“This new policy is all about adopting a commonsense practice. Under previous arrangements, parents who wanted to invite a child in foster care for an overnight stay were required to undergo a police check.
“The check was not a legal requirement and has in fact proved to be a big barrier for kids in foster care wanting to enjoy everyday activities with their friends like slumber parties and sleepovers. In reality, many kids in foster care ended up missing out on everyday experiences that other children are able to take for granted.
“I firmly believe that if a person is trusted with the daily care of a child in foster care, that person should also be trusted to make the right decision about any overnight visits. Foster carers are best placed to make these decisions in the interests of a child’s safety and development.”
The new approach is similar to that taken by other jurisdictions like the UK and New Zealand.
In line with this new policy, Ms Neville also announced that the Government would move to allow foster carers to give permission for children in their care to take part in school excursions or similar outings without Departmental approval.
“The aim of these changes will be to make sure children in care get the chance to do the sorts of normal, everyday things all children enjoy. We want to make sure our policies don’t get in the way of this,” she said.
“Being able to give permission for a child to go on a school excursion or participate in other activities is an important part of providing care.”
The theme of this year’s conference is “Fostering Change” and Ms Neville told more than 360 delegates that the implementation of the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 this year reflected a changing understanding of the needs of all children and families facing difficulties.
The Brumby Government has given $1.4 million in funding for ongoing training for carers, as well as introducing a common assessment and training program for all new foster carers.
Ms Neville also used the conference to launch a new edition of the Home-based care handbook. The handbook provides useful information to carers and has been updated to include the reforms from the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005.
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