regional foster carer advisory groups
Regional Foster Carer Advisory Groups are committees of Community Services staff and nominated foster and relative/kinship carers.
These groups established in every region to help Community Services staff and authorised carers work together to improve local foster and relative/kinship care services.
All groups across the state use the same terms of reference to help guide their development and work. These can be summarised as:
goals
The goals of Regional Foster Carer Advisory Groups are to:
- strengthen the relationship between Community Services and foster carers as partners in the foster care program
- strengthen foster care services and achieve better outcomes for children and young people in care.
objectives
Regional Foster Carer Advisory Groups benefit local children and young people in foster or relative/kinship care, their families, carers and the regional or local Community Services care program by:
- carers and Community Services working together to improve services in the region by increasing carers’ participation in service delivery issues
- improving communication and cooperation between Community Services and carers on regional and local planning and consultation
- providing a forum for carers to have a say in how the regional or local Community Services care program runs
- identifying solutions to existing problems.
how they work
Regional groups are chaired by Community Services Regional Directors and meet at least four times each year.
Local foster and relative/kinship carers are encouraged to make contact with any of the representatives on their local group. Carers may also request to attend meetings if they wish to propose new ideas or raise issues.
Information from the meetings is distributed widely to carers through local support groups, training, forums and newsletters.
Contact details for each region’s group, as well as details on upcoming meeting dates and each region’s contact officer are updated regularly.
