Kinship care refers to the care provided by relatives or close members of the child’s social network when the child is unable to live at home with their parents and is the preferred placement option within the Australian child protection system. Of the 43,399 children in out of home care in Australia, 20,528 are living in formal kinship care (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2016). These numbers are continuing to rise. One Australian study suggests that informal kinship care may be three times more common than statutory care (Smyth & Eardley, 2007).
In Australia, most kinship carers are believed to be grandparents however there are a significant number of other family members and friends providing primary care of a child. Kinship carers experience more vulnerability than foster carers, including older age and greater poverty, health issues and greater likelihood of being sole carers (Boetto, 2010). The close relationship between kinship carers and the children's parents adds another level of complexity, given the impact on family relationships of mental illness, family violence and parental substance abuse (Boetto, 2010).
Little is known about family violence in kinship care that’s perpetrated by a close family member of the child in care (usually the child’s mother/father) against the carers and children once the placement has started. In this context, family violence means any act of physical violence, emotional/psychological violence, verbal abuse and property damage.
This workshop will present the key findings based on 101 Victorian kinship carers who responded to an online survey and qualitative interviews - providing the first insights into the types and impact of family violence experienced by kinship carers and the children in their care. Further, the workshop will explore how this issue is addressed internationally. How can we better protect children during unsupervised access visits? How can we better protect carers? How should the perpetrators of violence be held accountable?
Pre-reading is located at: http://www.baptcare.org.au/why-baptcare/advocacy - 'It's been an absolute nightmare' - Family violence in kinship care. At the end of the workshop we will be inviting participants to register their interest in forming a virtual working group to continue to provide solutions to the issues identified in the research.
