Risks in foster care outsourcing

Date: 18 August 2011

The Public Service Association is calling on the State Government to halt the outsourcing of foster care services to the non-government sector after the admission 12 children faced serious harm in the care of a major non-government agency.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports today that 12 children faced unacceptable risks while in the care of the state's largest agency Life Without Barriers.

Yet Family and Community Services Minister Pru Goward has foreshadowed savage cuts to her department while embarking on a major foster care outsourcing program beginning next year, said PSA Senior Industrial Officer Maria Cirillo.

Non-government foster care agencies already get four times as much taxpayer funding for each child placement than DOCS.

"If this can happen to children when they had 1100 children in their care with $75 million in funding - imagine how many can fall through the cracks if 15,000 children are transferred from DOCS to non-government care," said Ms Cirillo.

"This shows the NGO sector is not ready, but the minister has indicated she will beginning a major outsourcing program next year.

"Minister Goward has admitted that the system is underfunded - but her solution is further painful cuts to DOCS budget and accelerating outsourcing to a sector which this story shows is not ready.

"The NGO sector will need to expand rapidly to meet this expectation - but if vulnerable children are put in the care of a rapidly growing NGO sector, more children will fall through the cracks."

There are currently 17,400 children in foster care in NSW, with 2,500 of those looked after by NGOs. Those placements currently take up 40% of the foster care budget - approximately $100,00 a year per child as opposed to $27,000 per child within DOCS.

"Even with all those resources, the NGO sector does not have the experience, qualified staff or regulatory requirements of DOCS," said Ms Cirillo. "Not a single child should be transferred to an NGO until the minister is confident that children's safety is not at risk - this story shows we can't currently have that confidence."

The PSA represents DOCS workers.

For further information

Contact:	Maria Cirillo, Snr Industrial Officer
Union:	Public Service Association of NSW
Phone:	02 9220 0958
Contact Mobile:	0407 060 960
WWW:	http://www.psa.labor.net.au/

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