A Tasmanian advocacy group for kinship carers has challenged the government to ensure family support measures comply with a United Nations charter.
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President of Kin Raising Kids Ross Henderson said kinship carers and their children were often forced into a life of poverty, drawing on the resources of the carer.
Tasmanian informal grandparent carers do not get access to a government-funded Grandparent's Payment available in other states.
This payment is designed to financially help grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, as they are not eligible for the payments that foster parents receive when they care for children through Child Protection Services mechanisms.
Grandparents are often motivated by wanting to keep their grandchildren out of the foster care system.
Butt unlike foster parents, grandparents raising their grandchildren have to find all of the money to raise the children themselves.
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Mr Henderson said they often have to exist on a pension, or whatever savings they might have.
But signing on to the United Nations Charter on the Rights of the Child would give every family baseline level of support, he said.
Mr Henderson was speaking in response to the plight of Launceston grandmother Angela Chamberlain, who detailed her struggles with the digital divide during lockdown.
Ms Chamberlain said she did not receive any support in raising her grandchildren, despite seeking it from groups such as the Smith Family, because she lives in a private rental outside Launceston's northern suburbs.
Lockdown compounded the struggles she was already facing raising a child as a grandmother.
Despite popular discourse, Mr Henderson said grandparents were not voluntary carers and because they were classed as informal they did not receive the support they were entitled.
"These under-resourced heroes are provided no information where to seek assistance or guidance," he said.
"Short term assistance does exist, for a couple of months, to link kinship carers to existing services in their communities.
"However, they are still trying to come to grips with the upheaval to their lives in that time, settling the child or children into a routine, dealing with medical and dental appointments, schools, out of hours activities, etc.
Mr Henderson said Kins raising Kids believed that every child who can't live with their biological family should receive equal support, whether they live with foster carers of grandparents.
"It is beyond belief that children in out of home care would be split into different groups, with one group receiving non means tested benefits, a second group a different set of benefits and the third group little or nothing," he said.
In late 2019, Kin Raising Kids briefed Legislative Councillors on their work and the issues faced by informal grandparent carers, which has been made more complex during COVID-19.