Background and context of emergency foster care
Emergency foster care provides secure and safe environments for children and young people experiencing crisis situations (often at very short notice). This might be because they’re in immediate danger or because their living situation has been deemed unsafe.
Placements for emergency foster care can last for a night, a weekend, or up to a few weeks. When a placement ends, children might be returned to their families, or they might transition into short or long-term foster care arrangements.
Emergency foster carers
Emergency foster carers are foster carers who can provide immediate safety and security for children in crisis. They must be ready and available to care for children on very short notice.
People who provide this support have a few primary goals. They include providing urgent stability to help reduce trauma and the potential impacts of trauma, and to meet the basic care needs of children.
Support for emergency foster carers
As we explore on our emergency foster care webpage, Anglicare Southern Queensland supports emergency carers by offering:
- Round the clock (24/7) on-call assistance
- Dedicated casework support and assistance
- Ongoing training and development opportunities
- Financial support offered through our carer benefits program
- Peer support networks and opportunities for connection with other carers.
In addition to the types of support that we offer, as a foster care agency, emergency foster carers also receive additional support and financial assistance from the Queensland Government.
Carer allowance
In Queensland, emergency foster carers receive a caring allowance (also known as the fortnightly carer allowance) to help them meet the day-to-day costs of caring for a child. Because of the immediate nature of this level of care, sometimes children arrive with very little belongings (often just the clothes they’re in).
The carer allowance can help subsidise essential items that young people need during their time in emergency care. This can include items such as clothes, shoes, toiletries, books, school supplies, medical expenses and household goods.
*It’s important to note that this allowance is not considered income for tax purposes.
To learn more about the fortnightly carer allowance, review the Queensland government’s guidelines.
Types of support services available
Emergency foster carers receive support from a range of stakeholders and services. This might include:
- Advice, training, emotional support and mentoring from their agency and Foster Care Case Practitioner
- Advice and assistance from the Department of Child Safety (the Department)
- Emotional support and experiences shared from other foster carers in their peer network
- Referrals to counselling services
- 24/7 on-call support for urgent needs related to their emergency placement.
Assessing accessibility of emergency foster carers
Like all foster carers, emergency carers receive the same training and onboarding to care for children and young people. You can learn more about the process of becoming a foster carer here.
In addition to the training and assessments required to become a carer, an emergency carer might undergo further trauma informed training and accessibility assessments to care for children and young people on very short notice. As such, their agency and the Department will work with them to determine their availability and if they’re able to provide this level of care.
When determining their availability, carers are allowed to set boundaries around when they’re able to take placements. This helps the Department and agency to know how carers will be able to respond and if they can quickly accept placements.
Other factors that an agency and the Department might consider include the emergency carers:
- Transportation accessibility
- Ability to transport children safely on short notice
- Home readiness for a young person to come into the home on short notice
- Ability to take on children with unknown backgrounds and needs.
Effectiveness of emergency care
Emergency foster care is effective and crucial for the child protection system. For children and young people who are removed from their homes, due to safety concerns, it’s important that they feel supported in a safe and nurturing environment that mitigates stress and traumatic experiences.
While designed to be a short and temporary solution (until children can be placed in more secure or long-term care arrangements) emergency foster care can be highly effective in bridging placement solutions. It allows all relevant stakeholders to assess the child’s situation and needs while making necessary plans.
Carer and stakeholder perspectives of emergency foster care
From our experience, when it comes to determining whether emergency foster care is right for you, it helps to be someone who can cope with uncertainty and fast-paced/ evolving circumstances. Often, children who come into care may be dealing with high levels of stress and trauma, especially if they’ve just been removed from their homes and families.
Despite the uncertainty and fast-paced nature of this type of care, most carers find this experience to be incredibly rewarding. These carers are often a young person’s first impression of the care system and can, therefore, leave a lasting impression on them. By being a safe, nurturing, and reliable person, emergency carers can influence how a young person chooses to trust and engage with adults during their journey through the system.
In comparison to other emergency placement solutions (i.e., hotels and residential care homes) emergency foster care can have better long-term outcomes for children and young people.
Systemic challenges
Unfortunately, there are some systemic challenges which impact the foster care system, especially emergency care. Some challenges have direct implications on the delivery and effectiveness of care.
Carer pool shortage
Despite the short increase in available foster carers in Queensland, there are still not enough carers to meet the quantity of children and young people needing placements, each year. Moreover, there are simply not enough carers who are equipped to meet the high and complex needs of some children. Additionally, there’s not enough carers who are willing to care for teenagers and sibling groups.
One of the biggest constraints for people wanting to become foster carers is the high cost of living. As for the retention of existing carers, the biggest challenges that they face include high stress and burnout.
Complex needs of children
Often, children entering care experience complex needs including trauma, abuse, neglect, exposure to violence, and more. They may also experience disabilities or other mental health challenges. To help children navigate these complexities, carers need to be equipped with training and resources to support them through that.
The lack of synergy between services makes it difficult for children, carers and service providers to provide specialist care that caters towards the diverse needs of children.
Information sharing and coordination issues
Following on from the above point, one of the biggest challenges that’s especially prevalent in emergency foster care situations is a gap in information sharing and coordination. This means that carers may not receive all the information they need about a child’s history (i.e., disability support, health, education and child protection records). Furthermore, they might not have adequate experience to respond to those needs.
Lack of cultural connection
Because there’s a shortage of emergency foster carers, there are simply not enough Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander emergency carers available to support the over-representation of First Nations identifying children in care.
Recommendations for improvement
Based on the previously mentioned systemic challenges experienced in the foster care system, specifically surrounding emergency foster care, here are some of our recommendations for policy improvement.
Targeted recruitment for emergency foster carers
To attract more emergency foster carers in Queensland, the Department and agencies should be creating more targeted recruitment campaigns aimed towards emergency foster carers. Additionally, in the recruitment and onboarding of new foster carers, there should be opportunities to increase conversations about emergency foster care as an option.
A similar approach could support in increasing the recruitment of teenage and sibling group carers, as well as First Nations emergency carers to support culturally diverse children.
Advanced training for emergency foster carers
An investment into training for emergency carers can better equip agencies to match emergency carers with children who they believe can best meet the diverse and often complex needs of children and young people.
As mentioned, for some children requiring emergency care, stakeholders have very limited information available about their background or circumstances. By equipping carers with specialist training, they can support carers by offering:
- Advanced trauma training to support carers during the early hours of children being displaced from their home; and
- Advanced training on complex disabilities, health issues, and mental health conditions.
Improved information sharing
To help emergency foster carers with responding to the immediate needs of the children placed in their care, processes need to be better streamlined to ensure carers are adequately paired with children in a timely and safe manner.
For instance, information from any agency who has been involved in the child’s wellbeing can be centralised and shared with the Department of Child Safety. This could allow the Department and foster care agencies to make informed decisions around the initial placement of the child (i.e., pairing them with someone who has more experience in dealing with certain childhood complexities or needs).
Additionally, this would also ensure that the Department and agencies are adhering to confidentiality and privacy provisions without explicitly sharing extremely sensitive information with carers.
Increasing early intervention support and programs
In Queensland, more investment needs to be made in providing early intervention support programs to keep children placed with their families.
Early intervention can prevent family breakdowns and situations from escalating that require out of home care placement. There needs to be more investment into services that can provide programs that support families at risk of breakdown and increase support to improve their parenting capacity.
Learn more about emergency foster care
Emergency foster carers are extremely important for the foster care system. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of available emergency carers who can meet the needs of children entering care.
This role is rewarding and comes with many benefits. For more information about emergency foster care, please visit the emergency foster care page on our website. Alternatively, to apply to become an emergency foster carer, please call 1300 114 397 or fill out our online application.