AUSTRALIA

Historic transformation of New South Wales foster care system

The state's foster care system will undergo an historic transformation with the announcement today of 38 non-government agencies that will take over the role traditionally carried out by the Department of Community Services.

Up to 6800 children and young people in foster care with the department will be transferred to the non-government agencies over the next four years.

At the end of the process, only 1000 children, mainly Indigenous, are expected to remain in the department's care, while more Aboriginal fostering agencies are developed.

In most cases, willing departmental foster carers will be transferred with the children but agencies will subject them to new suitability checks.

The agencies were successful in a $123 million tender contract that will see them take over responsibility for recruiting and supporting foster carers, and monitoring the welfare of children, including making regular visits to the home, and supervising contact visits with their biological parents.

“This is the biggest reform in child protection in the history of NSW,” the Minister for Family and Community Services, Pru Goward, said.

She said agency staff would be able to visit the children and foster carers more regularly than the department had done.

Twenty of the agencies already have experience in running foster care programs in NSW under a system in which the non-government sector has long played a minor but important role. But 18 players are new, four of them from interstate, and one part of a multi-national company.

The reform follows the recommendations of Justice James Wood who held an inquiry into the state's child protection system in 2007/8. He found the non-government sector's foster care programs to be superior in many ways to the department's.

However, whether the money allocated after take-it-or-leave-it negotiations with the sector is sufficient to maintain its higher standards is a concern to some agencies.

Andrew McCallum, chief executive officer of the Association of Children's Welfare Agencies, told the Herald the success of the new arrangement would depend on a reduction in the number of children entering into care which would enable the money to go further.

The Minister has made the reduction a key aim of the reforms. She said the reform was “not a savings measure”. Previously agencies had received variable grants from the government, with some agencies negotiating payments many times higher than others had received to do the same service. The new system was more transparent.

She said agencies would be “foolish to play hard-ball with carers” [by reducing payments made to them] because “carers are in the wonderful position that ... if they're not happy with the arrangement there are 37 other [agencies]; carers have never had it better.”

Among the biggest contract recipients, though the amounts over the four years are still indicative, were Wesley Mission with $15 million, Challenge Disability Services with $11.5 million, KARI Aboriginal Resources with $9.5 million and Barnardos Australia with $7 million.

New entrants include experienced Victoria provider Mackillop Family Services and Key Assets, part of the worldwide Core Assets group and established in South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland.

Foster care agencies have to pass or work towards passing accreditation standards but the Children's Guardian, Kerryn Boland, who oversees accreditation, said nine of the 18 new agencies were not yet accredited.

But the Department of Community Services had also never met the accreditation standards.

Adele Horn
11 July 2012

http://www.merimbulanewsonline.com.au/news/national/national/general/historic-transformation-of-states-foster-care-system/2621261.aspx

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