An increase in home-based foster care for some of Victoria’s most vulnerable children has been announced by Jenny Mikakos, Minister for Families and Children.
Mikakos said an investment of $43 million would be made into targeted care packages, with the ultimate aim of boosting foster care in homes.
She said the initiative was to effectively relocate vulnerable kids out of residential care and place them with foster parents throughout local communities, such as West Melbourne, Victoria.
The process, according to Mikakos, would entail individual assessments of each child’s needs, with tailored support provided for all carers.
She said during the launch of the new scheme at Richmond-based children welfare organisation Berry Street that, due to a recent shortage of foster care families, many children had been placed in residential settings.
Already, some 100 of these have been identified as being able to benefit from the new targeted care packages, and moved into the more favoured home-based care, she said.
The first roll-out of the programme has been set down for April 2015. Mikakos said money was already available.
Welfare agencies such as Berry Street welcomed the initiative. Sandie de Wolf, chief executive, said there was an ever rising demand for out-of-home-care.
Government requests for more foster carers have been the subject of constant flyer printing campaigns in communities throughout the country.
