The Kinship Care forum Supporting the Community has been described as “a major success” with more than 90 people attending the one-day forum held at the Springwood Sports Club on the 22nd of September 2009.
The opening address by the former head of the NSW Children’s Court, Magistrate Judge Robert C. Mitchell, set the scene for the day when he handed his “thank you flowers” to a kinship carer who has 6 children in her care.
Dr Elizabeth Watson & Dr Ainslie Yardley from the Social Justice Social Change Research Centre at the University of Western Sydney reported on their research “Kinship Care – Finding a Way Forward” that shows while there are some similarities between kinship and foster carers they are also distinct differences. One important difference is the way in which children come into the care of kinship carers.
Grandparents and/or relatives may receive a telephone call in the middle of the night from a child protection caseworker asking “will you take the children?”. For them there is no choice as they are committed to preserving and protecting their family. Foster carers on the other hand actively choose to become carers and do so through a long process of preparation and training. Kinship carers face significant burdens on their health and finances, frequently suffering from guilt, blame, and post-traumatic stress.
The research highlights the importance of having access to a “one-stop shop” that is localised and established specifically for the purpose of providing support to kinship carers. Kinship carers need to know what to do, how to access services and information about their entitlements. To support them in their caring role they need trained specialist staff who work from a family centred framework. The importance of being able to access, regular respite, from their caring role was emphasised.
A highlight on the day was the presentation by the young people involved in KAOS (Kinship Adolescent Out of home Support). Putting on grey wigs, flannel nighties & walking sticks they shared their experiences of living in care with grandparents through the freestyle poetry written specifically for the day.
Springwood Neighbourhood Centre which auspices the Kinship Care Regional Project would like to thank all the people who made the forum such a success, the kinship carers and young people who participated on the day, both in panel and audience discussions; the services from the Nepean region who participated in the service expo in the afternoon session; Mountains Mobile Minders who provided childcare and the fantastic guest speakers.
A special thank you is also extended to the members of the Kinship Care Forum Working Party Committee who met over several months undertaking planning for the forum. Committee members include workers from the Gunedoo Child Protection Service Inc., the Integrated Violence Response Prevention Service, the Kinship Care Team, St Marys DoCS, the Family Relationship Centre, and kinship carers from the Springwood Support Group.
For more information about supports available to kinship carers please contact the Kinship Care Regional Project at Springwood Neighbourhood Centre on 4751 3033.
