Care Allowance Campaign Progress to August 2024
The Care Allowance Campaign is officially a year old. In the year, the real value of the Care Allowance has dipped even further as the cost of living rises with inadequate indexation to meet costs.
The Foster Care Association of Victoria and Permanent Care and Adoptive Families continues to run the Petition to Increase the Care Allowance as we continue to lose carers from the system in Victoria at an alarming rate. The FCAVโs latest Snapshot shows a loss of nearly 100 foster care households from the system in the 12 months to March 2024. This backs up the most recent data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
With current attrition rates and the increase in the numbers of children entering care, the Victorian Government stands to spend millions in inadequate and unsafe contingency care and children as young as 7 being placed in residential care.
The system is at breaking point and the Care Allowance is an intrinsic factor in its sustainability.
We call on Minister for Child Protection and Carers, Lizzie Blandthorn to advocate with Treasury and the Premier Jacinta Allan to recognise that this is not just a cost efficiency issue to be proved in economic modelling but a human rights issue for our most vulnerable children and young people and the carers whose goodwill and big hearts are being exploited by it.
We thank over 2,650 submitters and sector organisations, carers, ACCOs, leaders and young care leavers who are joining the campaign and saying, enough.
In March 2022, Matthew Bach, then opposition spokesperson for Child Protection, publicly called on the Government to increase the Care Allowance and provide better supports to carers via funding for the Carer Strategy in a speech to Parliament. Dr Bach highlighted that at the time:
โข ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ. ๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฎ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ $๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ.
โข ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ญ๐ฌ% ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ (๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ).
โข ๐ ๐ก๐ฆ๐ช ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ฎ ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐น๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฑ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ $๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฑ.
Dr Bach also queried why the Government had not allocated any funding to implement the Carer Strategy (Strong Carers, Stronger Children) which is a plan to better support carers through administrative and policy reforms. He also noted that Minister has failed to release two reports into the financial welfare of Victorian foster carers which purportedly demonstrate that they are significantly underpaid compared to other states and that the Care Allowance needs to be increased and restructured.
