Page 4865 - Week 13 - Thursday, 28 November 2019
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8. Workers are defined under section 7 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act). That definition includes volunteers in certain circumstances. Foster carers are volunteers and are not legally workers for most matters. The decisions a carer with daily care responsibility for a child can make connote activities of a solely domestic, recreational or social nature – not work. Similarly, decisions made by a carer when exercising parental responsibility they hold under authority do not arise from a work relationship; they arise from a domestic, recreational or social relationship.
Despite the above, in certain circumstances, foster carers are considered ‘other persons’ for the purposes of the WHS Act. This is not dissimilar to other sectors, where a person in charge of a business or undertaking owes a WHS duty of care to volunteers and indeed members of the public.
Children and young people—care and protection
(Question No 2769)
Mrs Kikkert asked the Minister for Children, Youth and Families, upon notice, on 27 September 2019:
(1) What percentage of young people in care and protection in the ACT achieve a year (a) 10 and (b) 12, certificate broken down by placement at the time in (i) foster care, (ii) kinship care and (iii) residential care.
(2) What has been the trend in the figures in part (1) across the three placement types over the past five financial years.
(3) What percentage of young people in the ACT in general achieve a year 10 certificate, and what has been the trend in these figures over the past five financial years.
(4) What specific supports does the ACT Government provide to young people in care and protection to encourage and/or facilitate the completion of year 10 and/or year 12 certificates.
(5) What percentage and number of care leavers in the ACT go on to pursue postsecondary technical and vocational education and (a) of these, how many successfully complete their studies and (b) what has been the trend in these figures over the past five financial years.
(6) What percentage of young people in the ACT in general purse and complete postsecondary technical and vocational education, and what has been the trend in these figures over the past five years.
(7) What percentage and number of care leavers in the ACT go on to pursue university education and (a) of these, how many successfully complete their studies and (b) what has been the trend in these figures over the past five financial years.
(8) What percentage of young people in the ACT in general pursue and complete university education, and what has been the trend in these figures over the past five financial years.
(9) What specific supports does the ACT Government provide to young people exiting or having existed care and protection to encourage and/or facilitate their accessing and/or successfully completing postsecondary education.
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