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July 1st, 2025
Victoria is experiencing significant challenges supporting, retaining and attracting foster carers. The Foster Care Association of Victoria is a trusted voice of foster care in Victoria. Our insights and advocacy reflect the real experiences of carers and the children in their homes, grounded in unique data and the evidence of lived experience. The FCAV is dedicated to promoting evidence of priority challenges and practical solutions to decision makers. When these priority concerns for carers go unheard and unmet it impacts the lives of children and young people and their carers. Journalists rely on the FCAV to inform coverage and amplify these urgent and unmet needs. We are grateful these stories have featured across major outlets including ABC News, The Age and the Herald Sun, helping to bring visibility to the state of foster care in Victoria and our calls for change.

ABC Radio | Oct 21 2025

Samantha Hauge – CEO of the Foster Care Association of Victoria – joined Nic Healey on ABC Radio Victorian Statewide Mornings

Samantha Hauge spoke to Nic Healey, ABC Radio about instances of care allowances for children in care being reduced from high needs level 4 and 5 subsidies, down to level 1. They discussed the implications for children's care, on carer households and where Victoria sits as an outlier in foster care funding and loss of carers.

Timestamp | 1:00 – 1.18

Children in Victoria’s foster care system with high-level medical, psychological or physical needs are losing vital stability as their carers face drastic funding cuts — in some cases, more than $100 a day.

Foster carers for high-needs children have support slashed

The Age | Oct 20, 2025
By Wendy Tuohy

Samantha Hauge, CEO of the Foster Care Association of Victoria spoke to Wendy Tuohy, Senior Journalist at The Age Newspaper, about instances of Victorian children in foster care with high-level medical, psychological or physical needs having their state support allowances cut by three-quarters.

"Rowan Pulford, a policy adviser at the Foster Care Association of Victoria, says the cost of not investing in foster care is enormous. “You either invest in foster carers or you spend the money elsewhere,” says Pulford, who is also a carer. “Emergency placements and residential care are not only hugely expensive, but also incredibly damaging to the child. “The life trajectory of those children can also be really poor.”

The Guardian | 20 July, 2025

By Business editor

Rowan Pulford, Policy Adviser at the FCAV spoke to The Guardian newspaper in July 2025 for their story on the decline in foster carer numbers in Victoria.

"Victoria’s allowance rates are among the lowest in the country, and it’s no coincidence that the state is losing carers at a rapid rate. In 2023-24, 429 carer households left the Victorian system, and just 162 joined, according to AIHW data. Rowan Pulford, a policy adviser at the Foster Care Association of Victoria, says the cost of not investing in foster care is enormous.

“You either invest in foster carers or you spend the money elsewhere,” says Pulford, who is also a carer. “Emergency placements and residential care are not only hugely expensive, but also incredibly damaging to the child. “The life trajectory of those children can also be really poor.” 

ABC Radio 774 | April 23rd 2025

Natalie Pryor – foster carer and President of the Foster Care Association of Victoria – joined Raf Epstein on ABC Radio to discuss "What You Need To Know" about foster care in Victoria.

From the need for stronger support for carers and the children in their care, the FCAV's Care Allowance Campaign, to who can become a carer and the different types of care available, Natalie covered it all with passion and purpose.

Timestamp | 1:37 – 2:02

"Foster carers set up to fail"

ABC News | May 16th, 2025

"The Victorian foster carer peak body had urged the Federal Treasury to ensure "the funding follows the child." Avoiding residential and contingency care for children across the country makes sense not just for the welfare of children but also economically. Samantha Hauge, CEO, explains that means improving carer support, retention and recruitment so that home-based care options with loving families, is available and sustained."
Foster care shortage sparks fears for children becoming silent victims
ABC News | July 2024

More foster carers leaving the system as carers call for more support amid rising cost of living

By Natasha Schapova

ABC News | Mon 15 Jul 2024

More foster carers leaving the system as carers call for more support amid rising cost of living In short: The number of foster carers in Victoria is continuing to decline with many carers citing financial stress as one of their biggest challenges. The Foster Care Association of Victoria has been petitioning to raise the allowance for carers for more than a year, given it is the lowest in Australia.

More foster carers leaving the system as carers call for more support amid rising cost of living

By Kieran Rooney

The Sunday Age | 3 December 2023

"Victorian foster carers receive the lowest base payment of any state in Australia, with the sector losing nearly twice as many carers as it recruits. Michael te Wierik and partner Fiona have cared for more than 70 foster children. Data collected by the AIHW shows that 621 households exited the foster care system in 2020-21, while 317 were recruited. Foster Carer Association of Victoria (FCAV) figures collected in March 2023 show there was a 26 per cent drop in people going through the accreditation process."

Parents struggling as foster care payments fall short

By Anna Houlahan

The Canberra Times | October 25, 2023

Foster care families are calling for fairer payments as the cost of living crisis risks the system losing more households that step up to care for kids. ACT-based parents of foster babies, toddlers and young children receive a fortnightly care allowance of $601.69 while parents in Victoria are paid $427.05. Victorian foster parents are paid $91 less per week than a NSW family caring for a 6-year-old and they're feeling the crunch. " One carer explained they are up to $14,000 out of pocket a year while another said they stopped providing care because they couldn't afford to keep covering costs," Foster Care Association of Victoria CEO Samantha Hauge said.
Parliamentary adjournment on KPMG - care allowance
Dr. Matt Bach MP, Former Opposition Spokesperson for Child Protection, made an adjournment in Parliament regarding foster care allowance and the unreleased KPMG Report. Leaked figures from that report show that the recommendation was for a 60% increase to the Allowance rates.

Foster Carers Sound Alarm Over Victoria Paying Lowest Allowance In Australia

Herald Sun | 10 September 2023

By Carly Douglas

"Struggling foster carers are deserting the industry in Victoria due to being paid the lowest allowances in the country to look after vulnerable children. Victorian foster carers are leaving the industry in droves after years of being short-changed by the government, with some warning the state’s most vulnerable kids will be forced into troubled residential care homes."

Natalie Pryor, Charney Marshall carers, and Samantha Hauge CEO, spoke to Carly Douglas.

VCOSS child protection advocacy as Foster care kids are struggling to get proof-of-life documents. With thanks to carers, Janine Voisey and Rowan Pulford.

Children in care face proof of life hurdles

The Australian Newspaper | 12 June, 2022

By JOHN FERGUSON ASSOCIATE EDITOR | Paywall article

Victorian welfare workers are concerned the lack of a birth certificate is making it difficult for children, including in foster care, to access some services. Thousands of Victorian children in care could be without proof of life documentation, sparking an urgent audit by the Andrews government to investigate the breadth of the problem.

Victorian foster carers still waiting for major allowance increase

By Kieran Rooney

Herald Sun | February 13, 2023 | paywalled article

The state government was urged to make major changes to the foster system last year, now 12 months on carers are quitting in droves.

A confidential report that called for Victorian foster carers to receive a major increase in their allowances has now been sitting with the government for a year, despite calls to act urgently on its findings and support the struggling child protection system.

Advocates have warned financial pressure is forcing carers out of the system in droves and putting more pressure on other overworked parts of the system.

Foster Care Strain
FCAV member, Krissy Robinson and FCAV CEO, Sam Hauge, spoke to ABC News about the impact of lack of documentation or Medicare cards for the children in their care, increasing the strain on foster carers financially and administratively during the pandemic.

ABC News | September 5, 2021
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More articles
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June 24th, 2020
ABC Radio | Oct 21 2025 Samantha Hauge – CEO of the Foster Care Association of Victoria – joined Nic Healey on ABC Radio Victorian Statewide Mornings ... Read more...
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The Foster Care Association of Victoria acknowledges the unceded sovereignty of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation on whose land we live and work. We acknowledge the continued connection to Country including lands cultural knowledges and their peoples and pay respect to Elders past and present. We are the united voice and advocate for all foster carers across Victoria and we aim to continually develop our knowledge and act with respect to First Nations sovereignty.
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