A kinship carer expert wants the federal government to pay a special allowance to grandparent and other kin carers, who often face extreme poverty when raising others' children.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The payment would bring Australia into line with other Commonwealth countries such as New Zealand and the UK, which already offer such payments.
It could be paid to all people who raise someone else's child, regardless of child protection intervention.
University of Melbourne research fellow Meredith Kiraly, who has focused on kinship carers for more than a decade, said the vast majority of carers fell outside state child protection and did not receive financial assistance.
"Poverty is an enormous issue but the government policy that exists in this area is pretty skeletal, so we must look to the federal government and look at where they might offer more assistance for kinship carers as a whole," she said.
"State child protection services will never help the vast majority of kinship carers who don't go through the courts because there are just too many of them, and it is not in legislation. It is a federal responsibility."
Kinship carers are eligible for Commonwealth Family Tax Benefits or the non-means tested Double Orphan Allowance, paid when parents are dead or in jail.
Most carers face many hurdles in accessing these supports.
Dr Kiraly said a specific payment for kinship carers was needed, similar to the Unsupported Child's Benefit of New Zealand.
This benefit of between $172 and $233 a week is paid to carers of children whose parents are unable to care for them because of family breakdown and is in addition to a clothing allowance and other supports.
"I would like to see every Australian child who is unsupported by a mother or a father become eligible for such an allowance.
"Whether that would be means tested, or paid to kinship carers who also get a state allowance, would be a matter for the federal government to decide."
Dr Kiraly said a national kinship care organisation is needed, rather than many state-based organisations.
"These issues will not be sorted unless kinship carers have a voice at the national level to address the complexities of formal and informal care. It could work with SNAICC, the national body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children."
