00:00Family time is a staple for many, but for in-demand foster carers, it's a luxury often
00:08sacrificed in their role.
00:10As soon as they'd left, we'd get another call within a day or two for another kid to be
00:15placed with us.
00:16It just felt like we were constantly being asked.
00:21Greg Lacey left the foster care system two years ago.
00:24He was both burnt out and underperforming at work.
00:28With kids who have higher needs and more complex backgrounds, it was difficult to actually
00:34hold down a full-time job without having some sort of impact.
00:37The latest carer census found more than 60% of respondents placed financial strain as
00:43one of their biggest challenges.
00:45Carers here in Victoria received the lowest amount of compensation allowance in Australia.
00:51The real cost of caring for a child is increasing and yet the real value of the care allowance
00:57is decreasing.
00:58And new data shows there are fewer people choosing to be foster carers.
01:03The number of active carer households in Victoria dropped by 5.2% this year, a trend that's
01:10continued since the pandemic.
01:12The carers leaving the system aren't all being replaced.
01:16The number of people training to become accredited has also fallen by 18%.
01:22That's meant that many kids have ended up in residential care instead.
01:26Kids deserve to be in a loving, supported family environment where possible.
01:33And without that, the life trajectory for a child in residential care is clearly not
01:40as good as for a child in foster care.
01:43Many of them now, because there aren't enough foster carers, are being sexualised, one in
01:48two are ending up in the criminal system, and we are seeing incredible drug use.
01:53But the state government maintains it's supporting foster carers by indexing allowances every
01:57year and committing $38 million to improving home-based care.
02:03But for many carers, it's not enough to halt their exit.
02:06It was thoroughly enjoyable, but it was very draining as well.
02:13As foster carers, we are not social workers, we are not psychologists or anything like that.
02:19A system in need of care.
02:23Thank you.
02:24Thank you.
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