Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T20:49:46.239Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Towards real support for all Australian children in kinship care and their carers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2020

Meredith Kiraly*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Work, University of Melbourne, Victoria3010, Australia
Jill Green
Affiliation:
Kinship carer, New South Wales
Tracey Hamilton
Affiliation:
Kinship carer, Queensland
*
Author for correspondence: Meredith Kiraly, Email: mkiraly@unimelb.edu.au

Abstract

The introduction to this article provides a brief overview of current issues in kinship care. This is followed by transcripts of two speeches given by kinship carers at a Kinship Care Forum held in Brisbane in 2020. In these speeches, the speakers described how they became carers, their commitment to the children in their care, the challenges they have faced, the children’s development over time in their care and their struggles to achieve the support they needed.

Type
Commentaries
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AIHW (2019). Child protection Australia: 2017–18. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.Google Scholar
Boetto, H. (2010). Kinship care: A review of issues. Family Matters, 85, 6067.Google Scholar
Eunju, L., Mi Jin, C., Yeonggeul, L., & Kramer, C. (2017). Placement stability of children in informal kinship care: Age, poverty, and involvement in the child welfare system. Child Welfare, 95(3), 87110.Google Scholar
Gibson, P. A., & Singh, S. (2010). Let’s help caregivers and children in informal kinship care: De Facto custodian legislation. Child Welfare, 89(3), 7997.Google ScholarPubMed
Hunt, J., Waterhouse, S., & Lutman, E. (2010). Parental contact for children placed in kinship care through care proceedings. Child and Family Law Quarterly, 22(1), 7192.Google Scholar
Kiraly, M. (2015). A review of Kinship Carer surveys: The “Cinderella” of the care system? Child Family Community Australia (CFCA) information exchange, Australian Institute of Family Studies. Retrieved from https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/sites/default/files/publication-documents/cfca-paper31.pdfGoogle Scholar
Kiraly, M. (2020). ‘We’re just kids as well’: Towards recognition and support for young kinship carers. Melbourne: University of Melbourne.Google Scholar
McHugh, M., & valentine, k. (2010). Financial and non-financial support to formal and informal out of home carers: final report. Sydney: Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales.Google Scholar
Murphy, D., & Redd, Z. (2014). 5 ways poverty harms children. Retrieved from www.childtrends.org/child-trends-5/5-ways-poverty-harms-childrenGoogle Scholar
Nandy, S., & Selwyn, J. (2013). Kinship care and poverty: Using Census Data to examine the extent and nature of kinship care in the UK. British Journal of Social Work, 43, 16491666.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nixon, P. (2008). Relatively speaking: Developments in research and practice in Kinship Care. Blacklers.Google Scholar
Selwyn, J., & Nandy, S. (2012). Sibling Kinship Carers in England: Evidence from the 2001 population census. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(1), 194199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selwyn, J., & Nandy, S. (2014). Kinship care in the UK: Using census data to estimate the extent of formal and informal care by relatives. Child and Family Social Work, 19(1), 4454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smyth, C., & Eardley, T. (2007). Out of home care for children in Australia: A review of literature and policy. Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales.Google Scholar
The Senate (2014). Grandparents who take primary responsibility for raising their grandchildren. Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Tucker, J. (Ed.) (2016). Improving children’s life chances. Child Poverty Action Group.Google Scholar