Page 3472 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 22 October 2014
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preparation of people to become foster carers by organisations like Barnardos is really quite amazing. I have been fortunate enough to be able to share in her journey to becoming a foster carer.
Carers Week is a fantastic opportunity to focus on foster carers, kinship carers and permanent carers as highly valued members of our community. I understand that the West Belconnen Child and Family Centre hosted a wonderful celebratory morning tea last Wednesday morning and provided a wonderful opportunity for the community to thank carers for the commitment, dedication and love they consistently provide to our children and young people.
I also understand that two foster carers and two kinship carers will be funded to attend the national foster and kinship carer conference in Hobart on 13 and 14 November this year. This will provide an opportunity for these carers to engage with other carers from around Australia to hear up-to-date information about caring for children and young people.
People become foster carers for many reasons. The main reason is their love and enjoyment of the company of children. Kinship carers begin caring because a child or young person is known to them and requires their care and support. Carers come from many cultural backgrounds and have a diverse range of life experiences. This is so important in ensuring the best possible match for children in need of a secure and stable home. Those carers providing care in the ACT can be single, married or in de facto or same-sex relationships.
There are carers who are highly skilled in the provision of care to babies or adolescents specifically and there are carers who provide care to children and young people with disabilities. More than a quarter of children and young people in care are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Therefore foster and kinship carers from this background are also so important to ensure appropriate maintenance of cultural identity.
I would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our community organisations in supporting vulnerable children and young people in care, and I would also like to sincerely thank Child Protection Services, out-of-home care agencies’ staff and our community sector partners for all of the work that they do to ensure children and young people are strong, safe and connected to our community. It is also important to acknowledge the direct support provided to foster carers on a daily basis through those community-based, out-of-home care agencies. I know they are committed to helping their carers provide the best care possible for children and young people.
Lastly I would like to take this opportunity to encourage anyone who is interested in becoming a foster carer to contact our community organisations, Barnardos and Marymead, for more information. Carers Week has been a wonderful opportunity but, as Mr Lawder has said, it is not the only opportunity that we should take to acknowledge the hard work of all our volunteer carers. I would like to thank Ms Lawder for raising this very important issue.
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