LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendation 1
8.7 The committee recommends that:
- the
Department of Social Services and the Department of Human Services initiate a
comprehensive review of support provided to grandparents raising grandchildren.
As part of the review:
- the
Department of Human Services establish a sub-committee within the Older
Australian Working Group to enable ongoing engagement with grandparents raising
grandchildren;
- the
Department of Human Services puts in place and maintains processes to more
accurately collect and review data received from the Grandparent Adviser 1800
telephone number;
- the
Department of Social Services' Children's and Families Secretaries' Group, as
the primary platform for jurisdictions to collaborate on innovative approaches
to child and family issues, makes grandparents raising grandchildren a priority
topic for discussion at a meeting to be specifically convened to address this
issue or at its next meeting; and
- the
Department of Social Services' Children's and Families Secretaries' Group,
using an appropriate model, undertake a trial programme that makes available to
grandparents vouchers to assist meeting the cost of educational tutorial
expenses, including the cost of ICT training for grandparents raising teenage
grandchildren.
Recommendation 2
8.9 The committee recommends that the
Department of Human Services investigate means of identifying kinship care
arrangements in applications for Commonwealth benefits, with a view to better
identifying grandparent-headed families to whom financial support(s) should be
provided, subject to any eligibility criteria.
Recommendation 3
8.11 The committee recommends that the Department
of Human Services review the number and geographical allocation of grandparent
advisor positions, with a view to ensuring:
- that
needs are being met in high-demand service areas;
- the
specific needs of grandparents raising grandchildren in rural and regional
Australia are being adequately met; and
- if
required, increasing the number of grandparent advisors employed under the
Grandparent Advisor Program.
Recommendation 4
8.13 The committee recommends that the Australian
Government considers:
- providing
dedicated funding for community legal centres and Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Legal Services, to enable the better provision of legal assistance to
grandparents who have taken on the primary care of their grandchildren; and
- funding
for relationship supports and services, to assist grandparents raising
grandchildren to better manage intra-family relationships which are complicated
by the assumption of primary care responsibilities.
Recommendation 5
8.15 The committee recommends that the Australian
Government, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, investigate how
access to and the availability of professional counselling services can be
enhanced for grandparent‑headed families.
Recommendation 6
8.17 The committee recommends that the Australian
Bureau of Statistics:
- include
a question, or set of questions, in the Census of Population and Housing,
commencing in 2016, to identify those households in which kinship carers have
primary responsibility for children or young people, and the carer's
relationship to that person; and
- begin
compilation of a longitudinal dataset for grandparent-headed families, with a
view to identifying relevant support and service needs, including for
grandparents caring for grandchildren with disability and Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander grandparents raising grandchildren.
Recommendation 7
8.18 The committee recommends that the Australian
Institute of Family Studies:
- include
a longitudinal study in its Research Directions 2015-18 for endorsement by its
Advisory Council and the Australian Government; or
- alternatively,
conduct:
- a
national, cross-sectional, probability telephone survey of grandparents,
including a nested sample of former and current grandparents raising
grandchildren; and
- a
separate qualitative study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
grandparents raising grandchildren,
to better inform
government policies and practices which support grandparent-headed families.
Recommendation 8
8.20 The committee recommends that, the Australian
Government, through the COAG process:
- convene
a national forum specifically for grandparents raising grandchildren and their
local support groups, non-government organisations and representatives from the
Commonwealth, state and territory governments, and that this forum:
- investigate
a means of recognising the role and contribution of grandparents raising their
grandchildren throughout Australia; and
- consider
effective avenues for raising community awareness and understanding of the role
and contribution of grandparents who have the primary responsibility for
raising their grandchildren.
Recommendation 9
8.22 The committee recommends that state and
territory governments consider:
- extending
foster care allowances to grandparents who are raising their grandchildren
without orders from a court exercising family law jurisdiction or care and
protection jurisdiction; and
- investigating
means of facilitating contact arrangements between children in
grandparent-headed families and their birth parents.
Recommendation 10
8.23 The committee recommends that state and
territory governments consider:
- reviewing
the rates of financial assistance paid to grandparents as out‑of‑home
carers, with particular consideration to addressing the disparity in financial
support between foster carers and grandparents raising grandchildren;
- the
provision of training to grandparents raising their grandchildren,
to better support them in their daily parenting roles;
- the
provision of respite services to grandparents raising their grandchildren, with
a focus on enhancing and extending those services to all grandparents raising
grandchildren;
- the
formal assessment of kinship care placements within six months of the
commencement of a placement, with a view to ascertaining the specific supports
and services required by a grandparent raising grandchildren; and
- existing
policies and practices relating to the priority allocation of public housing,
with a view to expediting accommodation suitable to the needs of
grandparent-headed families.
Recommendation 11
8.25 The committee recommends that the Australian
Government, in co‑operation with state and territory governments,
examine increased and more certain funding for voluntary support groups which
provide peer support to grandparents raising grandchildren to better facilitate
the establishment, maintenance and operations of such groups.
Recommendation 12
8.27 The committee recommends that the COAG give
attention to:
- collaborating
on the development of guidelines, protocols and templates to ensure consistent
implementation of Standard 4 of the National Standards for Out-of-home Care,
which provides for each child and young person to have an individualised
education plan; and
- considering
facilitating education and awareness training within each jurisdiction on the
special circumstances and needs of grandparents raising grandchildren.
Recommendation 13
8.28 The committee recommends that the COAG
Education Council initiates a review into the practical supports and services
that could be provided to children in out-of-home care (including grandparents raising
grandchildren), to promote positive outcomes in education.
Recommendation 14
8.30 The committee recommends that the COAG, in
conjunction with state‑based community service providers:
- review
the information currently available to grandparents raising grandchildren in
relation to government and non-government supports and services;
- develop,
and update as required, a comprehensive guide to the supports and services
available to grandparents raising grandchildren in each jurisdiction;
- make
the comprehensive supports and services guide widely available across a range
of mediums and in a variety of formats, including for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander grandparents raising grandchildren;
- review,
and develop if necessary, in consultation with the relevant courts, information
materials that:
- identify
and explain potential pathways for grandparents raising grandchildren who wish
to formalise care arrangements for their grandchildren; and
- identify
specific sources of potential legal assistance in each jurisdiction.
Recommendation 15
8.32 The committee recommends that, through the
COAG Health Council, governments consider enhancing the provision of mental
health services for grandparent-headed families, with special attention given
to grandchildren affected by trauma.
Recommendation 16
8.34 The committee recommends that:
- the
Third Action Plan 2015-2018 elevates the strategic and policy areas associated
with grandparents raising grandchildren;
- as
an initiative under the National Framework, governments explore options to
improve mental health services for all family members, to support the
family unit and prevent children from entering the out‑of‑home care
system; and
- governments
recognise the special needs of and costs associated with raising children with
disability, in determining eligibility for, and the extent of, supports and
services provided to grandparents raising grandchildren.
Recommendation 17
8.36 The committee recommends that the COAG:
- explores
options for providing informal grandparents raising grandchildren with access
to legal assistance (including legal representation) in relation to the
care arrangements for the grandchildren;
- affirms
support for the Commonwealth's Informal Relative Caregiver's Statutory
Declaration, with a view to implementing a consistent means of recognising
informal grandparents raising grandchildren within and across jurisdictions;
and
- investigates
means of supporting informal grandparents raising grandchildren who initiate
proceedings in the family law jurisdiction and the care and protection
jurisdiction, including a more active role for child protection authorities and
an enhanced role for mediation.
Recommendation 18
8.37 The committee recommends that state and
territory governments reconsider Recommendation 19-3 of the Australian Law
Reform Commission and New South Wales Law Reform Commission's joint report Family
Violence–a National Legal Response, to enhance the assistance provided by
child protection authorities to grandparents rearing grandchildren in the
family law jurisdiction.
Navigation: Previous Page | Contents | Next Page