National Foster Care Sustainability Group calls for workplace protections for carers at National Employment Standards hearings

On 15 May, Families Australia and the National Foster Care Sustainability Group (NFCSG) gave evidence to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations, Skills and Training Inquiry into the operation and adequacy of the National Employment Standards (NES), recommending statutory foster and kinship carers have clear access to protected leave when children are placed in their care.

The group told the Committee that foster and kinship carers perform essential child protection work, but current workplace arrangements do not recognise the unique and often unpredictable nature of their caring responsibilities.

With 44,900 children in out-of-home care, Families Australia says the lack of fit-for-purpose leave settings is contributing to carers reducing paid work or leaving the workforce, particularly women over 50 and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander grandmothers.

As Dr Lisa J. Griffiths, Chair of the National Foster Care Sustainability Group and Chief Executive Officer of OzChild, said:

“Foster and kinship carers perform essential child protection work on behalf of every state and territory government, yet the National Employment Standards do not formally recognise that responsibility. The evidence shows that carers, disproportionately women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander grandmothers, are absorbing significant employment and financial costs with no legislative protection.”

Families Australia is recommending a targeted correction to explicitly recognise statutory carers within NES leave entitlements, including Community Service Leave, Parental Leave and Personal/Carer’s Leave.

Nadine Flood, foster carer, member of the National Foster Care Sustainability Group and former National Secretary, Community and Public Sector Union, said the shortage of carers able to balance work and foster care means children can’t find homes and governments face increased reliance on residential care, the most expensive and often damaging option.

“The South Australian Annual Health Survey tells us that eighty-one per cent of carers have reduced or ended their employment. That is not an individual choice. That is structural failure,” she said.

Kelly Jebb, a foster carer on the National Foster Care Sustainability Group argues that the current settings fail to recognise the reality of caring responsibilities that begin the moment a child comes into their home.

“When a child needs to be placed, carers don’t get a runway, we get a phone call. Overnight you’re organising school, medical checks, visits and trauma-informed support, and you’re doing it around your job,” Ms Jebb said.

“I do not hang up my volunteer jacket when I walk in my front door. This is a full-time, 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week responsibility.”

Dr Griffiths said recognising foster and kinship care within the National Employment Standards would be one practical step towards making it possible for more people to continue caring while remaining connected to the workforce.

“This is a structural design problem, not an individual failing, and it has a clear and targeted legislative solution. We are calling on the Committee to recommend it.”

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