Queensland Kinship Care Forum IV – What INFORMAL Kinship Carers need, what they really really need!
On Wednesday, 20th October 2021, PeakCare held our fourth Kinship Care Forum and sought to answer the question – What INFORMAL Kinship Carers need, what they really, really need?
Held during Anti-Poverty Week, this online forum shone a light on the needs of these dedicated carers, the children in their care, and focused on what could be done better to acknowledge and more appropriately support the thousands of Informal Kinship Carers who are currently falling between the cracks of Commonwealth and State or Territory Government responsibilities.
Special thanks is given to all of our presenters who provided a wealth of information, lived experience, and suggestions for how informal kinship carers can be better acknowledged and supported within Australia.
Watch the individual sessions as recorded below.
Session 1: More action needed to support Grandparent Carers
+ Grandparent carers are caring for grandchildren with inadequate support, what progress has been made since the Senate inquiry and where to from here?
+ A copy of the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs Report on Grandparents who take responsibility for raising their grandchildren can be found here
Speaker: Rachel Siewert, former Senator and Chair of the Community Affairs inquiry into Grandparent Carers
+ Discussion of the systemic issues and human rights considerations for informal kinship carers
+ More information on the Queensland Human Rights Act can be found here
Panelists: Scott McDougall, Commissioner, Queensland Human Rights Commission; Garth Morgan, CEO, QATSICPP; Natalie Lewis, Commissioner, Queensland Child and Family Commission
Session 3: Kinship care outside of child protection – invisible and unrecognised
+ This presentation describes the estimated prevalence of informal kinship care in Australia, UK and USA and discusses research about informal kinship care families. Meredith also discusses support inclusions and exclusions for informal kinship care families in Australia and strategies to promote recognition and to achieve real support for Informal Kinship Carers.
Speaker: Dr Meredith Kiraly, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Melbourne
Session 4: Panel discussion on the Time for Grandparents Program
+ Discussion on UnitingCare’s Time for Grandparents Program, a statewide service providing support for Qld Grandparents who informally care for their grandchildren
Panelists: Dulcie Bronsch, Senior Project Officer, Time for Grandparents Program, UnitingCare; and informal kinship carers with lived experience
Facilitated by Lindsay Wegener, Executive Director, PeakCare Queensland
