Page 1290 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 April 2019
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The government recently launched a new handbook for carers which provides comprehensive information about being a kinship or foster carer in the ACT. The carer handbook provides clear information about child protection processes. Specifically it includes information about what to expect as a kinship or foster carer; how the out of home care system works in the ACT; caring for a child who has experienced trauma; working with Child and Youth Protection Services and ACT Together case managers and staff; the importance of carers looking after themselves; and the supports and services available to carers and the children in their care. The carer handbook has been developed by the Community Services Directorate in partnership with ACT Together and Carers ACT and in consultation with kinship and foster carers. It is now available on line and all carers will receive a hard copy of the handbook in the next couple of weeks.
The ACT government has also taken a decision to continue grandfathered subsidies for carers that were due to expire in June this year. Carers who are impacted by this change will receive a letter in the coming days with further information, if they have not already. The continuation of these grandfathered subsidy arrangements is one more way that we are recognising the importance of stability for children and young people and the support that carers provide for them.
MS CHEYNE: Minister, given the sometimes unexpected nature of kinship care, what other support is being provided to kinship carers?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Ms Cheyne for the supplementary. A step up for our kids prioritises the placement of children and young people with kin over other forms of available care, where this is possible and where it is in the best interests of the child or young person. We know that this can place a strain on family members as they take on new roles as primary carers.
Through A step up for our kids, we have developed specific programs to support kinship carers. This includes child and youth protection services partnering with the Australian National University to deliver the connect for kinship parents program, which was launched in early 2018.
The connect for kinship parents program is a nine-week strengths-based program that utilises a trauma and attachment-informed approach to support kinship carers of children aged eight to 16 years. Each week of the program covers a new principle relating to kinship parenting, attachment and child development. Carers can flexibly apply these principles, and feedback to date has been extremely positive.
The program targets the building blocks of secure attachment, specifically: reflective parenting, that is, awareness of your own and the child’s mental states, including feelings, desires and thoughts, and how these underpin behaviour; parenting sensitivity, that is, being tuned in, open and attentive to children’s feelings and thoughts and responding in a way that promotes a safe haven and secure base; emotional regulation within the relationship, utilising the relationship as a context in which the child can manage difficult emotions and feel supported; and shared partnership, joining with the child to promote emotional reciprocity in the relationship.
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